Wikamania 2008 - Day1 : احنا بقغ يا ثعاد

in some olad commercial 2 cows are sitting relaxed, one asked who are we, the other answered: we are cows احنا بقغ يا ثعاد

i remembered this confident sentence by the cartoon cow: we are cows ... attending the wikimania 2008 conference
wikipedia for me was just a cool site where i can find some info when i needed fast, DONE
site with great data
but after i found out about the conference i digg a little in it
and honestly i was astonished by what i found
for more on wikimedia foundation: The Wikimedia Foundation Inc. is a nonprofit charitable organization dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free, multilingual content, and to providing the full content of these wiki-based projects to the public free of charge. It operates some of the largest collaboratively-edited reference projects in the world, including Wikipedia, one of the world's 10 most-visited websites. The Foundation was created in 2003 by Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia

first: it's non profit organization
second: the aim is in brief to make knowledge available for everyone free of charge
third: the foundation created a project for any thing needs to be shared; wikipedia, wikimapia, wikibooks, wikiversity, .... etc

eih ya ged3an el7alawa di

the fundemental issue here is: the free knowledge availabilty
meaning: not because you are poor can't have books to read !!!!!!!
this great issue is built by jimmy wales and now maintained by the community
another key word: the community ... wow
what community?
the wiki contributers, in other word any one writes even a single line in wiki is a contributer, translated in numbers means thousands of people all around the world
that's the idea behind it
so attending a conference about that is yuppieeeeeeeeeeee

the conference is held in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina
another place believes in the open source need

thursday @ 8.45 am, people from arround the world are registering and get their name tags and a bag with (fishermen hat with wikimania logo, note, pencil, brochures, sticker and tie clips with the wikipedia logo, lunch tickets)
minister Ahmed Darwish was the speaker of the welcoming session, he talked about future and questions need to be asked and found answer for
then Florence Nibart-Devouard, very lovely lady and the former chair of the board of trustees, she talked about wikimedia foundation, how small they started and how big they become.
a young egyptian named Mohamed Ibrahim of the organizing committe said a brief speech, welcomed the audience and asked people and egyptian to envolve more.
Hoda Baraka, an egyptian college professor and the first deputy of the mcit spoked about education and wiki, well .... she had powerpoint slides about children in schools with computer labs and children with IT certificate
she compared education status in 100 years and how it evolves from the Kottab to the computer labs school and next the web 2 education where children will handle their curruiculum online
i think she was talking about the other Rrepublic of Egypt (the one in the governmental commercials where sky is blue and the land is green)
anyway
she was followed by the super speaker Dr. Ismail SeragelDin
this man is something else
every speaker prepared his speech on a power point presentation where the slide have pictures and text
he had a presentation with no text at all, he was talking about a point and showing a picture to reflect this point and then move on to another picture represents another point,
how he memorised all the points he want to talk about with the perfect order
and in fact his word was deeeeep
he compared about the BA role and the wiki, both are offering free source of knowledge as he said (to all people in all times)
and mentioned how some countries spend on wars and weapons and ignore the education or the fundemental needs of it's population

a break and i had to choose one session to attend from four are held in the same time
so i did to choose "cross culture dialogue through wikipedia - Dror Kamir"
and after the session began i found out that this man is Israeli
ya nehar eswed !!!!!!! that's how i thought
and then i realized something that this man is the most suitable for this title
he is a main contributor in wikipedia articles in arabic
he talked about how what you believe is A, others belive it's B, and how people on wikipedia try to reach consensus , new word to my ears
he made examples like (palestine / Israel - Taiwan / republic of China - Republic of Macedonia / the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia)
people asked him, how he describes his visit to Egypt as Israeli knowing that he may not be welcomed in some places, he said that it was easier then he expected after all it is another city with friendly people.
he said something very important answering a question about: do u reach the consensus after convincing the other or just for the things to get going?
he was very honest by saying i don't force people to be convinced and i don't care if they didn't because it's a long term process, people change their views many times along their lives and it's not just happen on talking about an article.
after the lunch break
i went to a session about the open scholarship or as i understand later, it's about medical and educational open source projects
beythay2li keda ... LOL
another session where the speaker was an egyptian linguistic, he was taking about his research on wikipedia writing, he got this result "people who write on wikipedia are linguistically skillful as PHD writers
he showed up some charts comparing the words used by the writers and so on -- very booring session
and then the lecture of the great Jimmy Wales founder of the wikipedia
he talked about freedom of speech, human rights and free culture, he was of course from time to time used china as an example - china banned the whole wikimedia sites -
he said some great statments
i want to stop here for a moment: here is a guy with a cosematic way of thinking, he created a project and let all the globe share him in it, and all this effort is non profitable
i think he deserves a noble prize for his way of thinking, he simply change the internet and the world by offering the new concepts of open source, wiki, web 2, ....etc
everything we do or use today online is a child of his product like facebook, you tube, blogs, and of course the wiki
i wonder how to be this man, have a great idea that benefit every one on the globe, seek to make it real, see it flourishing and growing and be part of the organization
wow
this man sure sleeps at night have no worry about the legacy he'll leave his children.
after this great session, there was another astonishing one by Rhonda Shearer
she was talking about the media vis wiki
she mentioned some hoax media created in the past and that in the wiki world people are modified content to make sure it's right and valid
she had some hilarious examples such a BBC news "iranina women give birth to a frog" and how this was proven a hoax and others stories
this woman was briefly saying: don't trust eveerything you read, media can manipulate the truth
in the wiki world it's impossible to happen, because people will step in and correct the fault.
coffee break and 2 sessions about wiki writing, not so interesting
except the Zotero software which makes wiki article available on your PC to modified and published by a click.
another session about inkscape SVG, very specialized session don't expect people to understand
the day end with the board panel session
wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
how people talk and think
it was a situation where the board is answering the "COMMUNITY" questions
the thing is it's a non profitable project, board have no obligation by law to offer a revenue chart or something similar
BUT
they had to answer the questions of the community and there were some questions i don't believe it would asked in a corporate company where people are by law forced to declare inforamtion
it's the difference between cultures
where we think this is mine, no one has to know anything about it
while they think that this product is belong to all, and all has the right to overwatch it
when Ahmed Zewal won the noble prize he said that the difference between the culture here and there was in the use of "i" and "we"
he was talking using the "we" referring to a team working together, not the "i"
i did, i make, i create
it's entirely a different approach,
that's the web 2 approach too
here in egypt in the IT business we did some baby steps in this direction with network community sites
it's not enough because it's not about the sharing of knowledge rather then sharing a good time online

with children again

yeaaah children
i don't know exactly the secret but i love spending time with them playing teaching
not the babies who can't respond clearly
but kids with the ability of talking and communicating
in the pic they were making shapes with the Terracotta
i was astonished by their creativity
one friend said: when we were at their age we weren't that clever or creative
yeah
they created full scenes using only Terracotta without real artistic guidance
dealing with children is a blessing not only in sunday school but in any occassion
same as last year
spending less then 2 days with them is enough to change my mood and worth the effort

driving with details

i had the chance to drive a toyota yaris car for 3 minutes , and was in a chevrolet optra car for an hour

i drove a gear car for 4 years now

and after driving the automatic, i was empressed of course

people are saying that the automatic is easier and it's true

but this isn't what i was impressed by

what hit me was the details

to change the mirror view, you press a button

to close the window, you press a button

.. etc

these kind of actions are what distract drivers along the way

having just 2 peddals to use is'nt that superb thing

it's like playing cars in the park

but have not to worry about the details is the superb

having a detail panel infront of you telling you what is exactly happening in every part of your car is the coool thing

and of course these tools are in all new car (even the non automatic)

which apply the phrase (the joy of driving)

THIS MEANS: to have control on everything even the far mirror by a press of a button

in some old TAXIs car, nothing is working except the peddals, the wheel and the stick, everything else is broken or damaged

but taxi drivers aren't complaining, i noticed how they adopt their moves with the junk cars they use, comparing with the relaxing method my friend uses to drive his automatic car

the effort they make in driving one street is equal my friend's effort driving to the north coast

(using his full automatic car) for example, and is equal the effort i make to go to sidibishr

LOOOOOOL

well, whould it be nice to have all the details buttons and tools in my gear car!!!

i love my car and can't replace it, all i wish for is the extra tools not the 2 peddals

subsidize 24 million villa

I attended a meeting last week with a huge real estate company marketing represntative, it was something related to my work

the meeting lasts all day long

from 10.30 am to 5 pm

i went home with a terrible headache and wondering where am i exactly

all the way home i was telling myself (mohamed sobhy joke: morataby bekafiny we batbara3 belba2y lesadad dayon masr)

i know people differ in their extent of wealth

and in egypt lives couple of the most richest men on earth

and most of people can live (just live) in egypt in an above poverty (just above poverty) standard

BUT

and it's huge but

this statment was valid till 6 months ago

first i'll recall what i ve heared:

DAMAC company is making new projects in egypt to sell different real estate properties

- in a specific project (hyde park in cairo) the villa price is increasing weekly by 2%

- they didn't start digging yet, and they sold about 1000 villas

- they have a long waiting list for people who are waiting the next lot of villas to buy it

- the buyer are egyptians

- some villas are 24.000.000 LE

check what's written on the website

Hyde Park

Spread across 4 million square meters, Hyde Park is the most exclusive villa development with Detached and Attached Villas nestled with a 1 million square meter landscaped park, the biggest private park in Egypt. Designed to suit multi-cultural tastes, the villa designs range from the Neo-Classical, Italian-Country to California-Spanish styles. Set atop beautiful vistas and surrounded by Egypt's natural beauty, your home will be amidst striking landscapes and beautiful water features. A gated community with several entrances, 24-hour security and controlled entry, living here is designed to give you total peace of mind and privacy.

Centre Ville

Park Avenue

NOW

it's totally healthy for the economic environement to have various standards of everything

low cost, average cost and high cost of every good

so similar projects are certainly required

what i'm wondering about is not the good, it's the buyer

if we put in mind that in the past 6 months, the economy were ruined by the gas and other goods high price increasing

AND more

the dollar interset is down to less then half

so any rich man who has 1 million dollars in the bank, he used to get more the 4% interest

meaning: 10000000*.04/12 =3.333$ monthly

but now the intersest is alomst 2%

so this means he now get 1.666$ monthly

and what makes egyptian economy a genuis record candidate is that

the dollar exchanging price is decreasing and the deposit interst tooo

it's an economical miracle because the interest rate should get up when the currency value get down and viseversa

that's not happening

so who owned 1000000$ 2 years ago he had 1000000*(5.7 to 7) LE and monthly income about 3.333$

but now he have 1000000 * (5.3 to 5.5) LE and monthly income about 1.666$

again people are loosing their wealth, value of their stocks

so who buys these A+++ real estate properties???????????????????

another question:

how many are they? projects like this are expanding more and more

now we have A+, A, B+, B standard real estate projects

it's good and healthy economically

but my question is? if the dollar deposit lost 50% of it's value, and the inflation is up by more then 30%

where all that money come from? and how ?

this makes me get to the next step

an important percentage of the egyptian people are wealthy enough to pay 2 to 24 million to buy a house

and they aren't counting on their money to live

but they share the governmental subsidize with us (the rest poor people)

if anyone from whom can afford even 2 million dollar house isn't using his share of subsidized bread, gas, .. etc

the rest who really need it will find it

the current economical situation is wrong

it's like a father who have 10 kids and one bread

and because he's a father he should give a fair share to every child so every child took 1/10 of a bread or a small bit

while 5 of his children have already eaten before and don't need more

and yet this creates another problem: who exactly needs the subsidize and who don't?

and what if someone today is declared rich and don't need a subsidize, and then another price increasing wave happens, will he be able to live without subsidize?

i believe in such communities (where a villa is worth 24 million ) no gas, water, electricity subsidize should apply, i mean people in these community should pay for electricity a bit higher then people in abies or nady elsaid (ابيس / نادى الصيد)

3arad mush marad

i have this friend that is 24/7 suffering from a sever headache

so she took some aspirine pills and go on with her life

i keep telling her "you should go see a doctor because headache is a Symptoms not an illness: meaning something else is wrong causing this terrible headache, once you know it and deal with it the headache will be gone"

but my friend keep ignoring me .... 3ady ya3ni

although she knows i'm right

WELL

it's not just her it's the community, the society, the nation, ....

we keep wasting our time and effort fight the symptoms not the illness itself

in the bread disaster we live in daily: creating a whole new system for bread distribution on every citizen using his ID >>>>>>>>> is fighting the symptoms not the illness

no bread because there are no wheat as simple as that

the new system will not create a new wheat field

the 30% raise is an obvious example on how dealing with the symptoms and not the illness.

giving the people 30% more income will not help, if inflation is way more then that and the total GNP is getting lower and lower.

it's not about having more banknote in our hands it's about the value of the banknote itself

the new traffic law is about "killing everything except the virus"

force people to pay fine for parking in the street ... while there are no garages

force the people to abandon the car older then 20 years ... while there are no obvious instruction on what exactly should we do with it

and more, how to buy new cars if i can't sell the old

etc............

even in our day to day life

we tend to take an aspirin instead of Antibiotic

make the pain stop without killing the cause of it

if i have a problem at work, i'll go out with my friend ..... just an aspirin to kill the pain

and not setting everything straight at work and make fights ... taking a Antibiotic to kill the virus

we all do this

even if we take Antibiotics, we use it more then necessary till we create another source of pain

it's a culture

Culture of Aspirin and not Antibiotic

Good Comment

لو نهر النيل صلصة ميكفيش الكوسة اللى فى مصر
good comment wrote by a reader in Almasry Alyoum newspaper

amazing graphic

see hoe th girl's hair is connected and arround the hourses necks

Ridge white hair

the Bold & the Beautiful ...... the Phenomenon

during the 90s, this series was the HIT

every egyptian watched the 9.30pm episode of the american series

even people who don't speak english

the faces of the stars were so attractive

and especially RIDGE

oh .. i remember how girls used to talk about him in school ELshabab monthly magazine give some star posters away with every issue, one month it was the RIDGE poster

i remember exactly what happened that day in school

girls came to school with the magazine ........ "this was Forbidden"

they were ready to deal with the sisters (catholic school) and get the punishment

BUT they couldn't afford to wait after school to buy the magazine "7ate7'lasss"

one girl said: i'll buy 10 issues to get 10 posters to cover all the walls of my room with his picture

later, the cast came in tour to Egypt

it was hilarious!!!!

people waited from them in the airport, in the streets

it was first page news in the national newspaper :ridge is in Egypt

no one cared to know their real names, they were ridge stephanie eric brooke ...

even the music contaminated with this epidemic: a girl in my school class gave me a tape for eric's songs

he sing too, u know .. oh he 's (yehbal) don't know the word in english

EGYPT spent sometime under the spell, before it slowly gone

people start to understand new terms like "soap"

i remember this conversation:

- this is soap

- heh?

- soap

- soap? like cleaning soap?

- no soap, just a term used for this kind of shows

- meaning?

- it's about shows for housewives to watch in the morning, well this shows aren't that value, it's just something to fill the time of the channels there, well u know in usa there are hundreds of channels and ......

new terms like "soap, channelssssssssss, satelites, ....."

at that time, we had only channel 1, 2 eltelevision elmasry elra2ed

so people who lived in egypt all their lives didn't get it easily that in another countries the TV isn't only governmental 2 channels

anyway

it was toooooooooo slowwwwwww

and it had a particular point that the series authors insisted on doing over and over again

which is "any man can fall in love with any woman / it's just a man and a woman in a relationship"

so it doesn't matter if brooke loved the father and the 2 suns and married the three of them

briefly ridge was the star of the 90s for us and he was the handsome actor that any girl was ready to watch him for hours even if he said nonsense or kept silent

then the TV repented for this sin and introduced the japanese "Oshin"

and people switched 180 degree

to find out how silly and shallow is the american soaps

and oshin had lot of common with people in the rural

so people were attracted to the character not only girls but grown up men too

yesterday, during my 10m tv time i watched the bold in the beautiful 2008

it was for 10 seconds only, couldn't bare more

ridge is old with white hair, almost same lines sine a decade

it was a shock

ridge is OLD

now i'm looking to it with a fresh point of vue

how a man sold his entire life for a soap????????

he's only work is this soap?

he's entire achivement in life was doing a handsome soap character?????

i never saw him in any other soap or movie or even on the movie news in MSN/ Yahoo

well, this post isn't clear enough

i remember how stupide we were, i wonder how stupide he's

i'm telling my self to learn and do something with my life

الشركة المصرية للإتصالات ... حافظ مش فاهم

I have no net at home for the most stupid reason EVER
the phone line was suddnly dead
the phone company guy came and fix the error which was in the street box lines
so the phone company is the responsable for the error
after it, i failed to login online from my home pc
i called tedata (and i have to admit that the auto responder service is MUCH MUCH better now then THEN)
anyway, the customer support guy told me after checking the system:
was your phone down lately and repaired?
me: yes
C S: ahh, that's why
me: sorry, what's the problem exactly?
C S: well, you see when the phone guy fix a phone error, he unplug the whole line first and then reinstall it, but they don't reactivate the dsl service
me: eh? so?
C S: i'll report the problem to our guy (someone in the a3tal) and he'll check it tomorrow with the central of your residence

IS THIS STUPIDE OR WHAT?
1- the phone company is fixing errors to create others
2- the TEDATA company is goverment owned company, and even if it's not
i think the connection between the 2 companies should be better

حافظ مش فاهم

wikimania & hashish

people in egypt now are divided into groups or segments
about 1000000 different groups
no matter what is th e standard we use to segment people, we 'll find ouselves with huge number of groups with HUGE differences between people
socially, economically, ...... etc
but the face is all the groups can deal with each other effectively till some point

today in one car for 10 minutes, 2 different groups of people were together
and it was COOOOOL

the story is 2 of my friends and i took a taxi, where a passenger was already there
the conversation between my bibliotheca alexandrina employee friend and i was about:
" how to register or to get tickets for the wikimania event that will take place in the library in july"

when the passenger and the driver were talking about :
.
.
.
.
.
HASHISH
they were exchanging experiences about how they feel when they are high, where to get it, and stuff

i didn't heared them or paid any attention to them because i was talking in a matter that is very important to me but our third friend did hear them and she in a point said "let us get off this taxi"
after we were off, i said what's wrong and she explained
it's become normal to talk about drug now and the sales points are in the open
people are telling each other about it as they were talking about carrefour
(elshare3 elfolani, 3ala eidek elyemin, 7atla2i wa7ed 2a3d me3ah hashish)