Erik Möller


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Erik Möller

Erik Möller in 2008
Born Germany
Occupation Journalist, software developer, author
Known for Deputy Director, Wikimedia Foundation
Website
Erik Möller's Homepage
The title of this article contains the character ö. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Erik Moeller.

Erik Möller is a German freelance journalist[1], software developer,[2] author, and Deputy Director of the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF), based in San Francisco, California[3]. Möller additionally works as a web designer and previously managed his own web hosting service, myoo.de.[3][4]

Contents

Published work

Möller is the author of the book Die heimliche Medienrevolution - Wie Weblogs, Wikis und freie Software die Welt verändern ("The secret media revolution: How weblogs, wikis and free software change the world").[5] In the book, Möller discusses the development of a journalistic equivalent to the open source movement in citizen media and blogging, though pointing out that most blogs do not compete with mainstream media.[6] The book was first published in 2005 by Heinz Heise and a second edition was published in 2006,[5] with updated and revised chapters.[7] A review in Berliner Literaturkritik's saw practical tips but claimed the book focused too much on technical details.[8] Möller's book is cited in the 2006 book Wiki: Web collaboration, in a section discussing "Wikis as an Engine for Social Change", and his term "secret media revolution" is used.[9] The authors comment: "Möller provides a comprehensive look at the problems and possible solutions in dealing with difficult controversies and vandalism in blog and wiki environments."[9]

In his earlier research on Wikipedia, Möller found in 2003 that Wikipedia's open source nature garners interest from many individuals, but also leads to gaps in topics of interest to experts.[10] Some of his research was published in Telepolis, where he compared Wikipedia to the digital multimedia encyclopedia Microsoft Encarta.[11] In his 2003 article Das Wiki-Prinzip: Tanz der Gehirne ("The Wiki principle: Dance of the brains"), he gives some background of Wikipedia and wikis, as well as on what he sees as the benefits of the project, ways to prevent vandalism to articles, and the etiquette of Wikipedia users.[12]

He has also written essays on human sexuality.[13]

Websites

Möller, who holds a diploma degree in computer science (Dipl.-Inform. (FH))[3], is the owner and creator of the Infoanarchy website which has information on P2P and file-sharing technologies.[14] Thomas Mennecke of Slyck News wrote that "Like P2Pnet.net, InfoAnarchy.org contains an impressive amount of original content written by owner Erik Möller."[14] He has also been involved in the development of the FreedomDefined website.[15] He is also listed as the joint host of a website known as violence.de that publishes the work of James W. Prescott and contends that being deprived of physical affection is a major cause of depression, aggression and drug abuse.[16]

At a 2005 blogger conference in Berlin, Möller gave a lecture on the Open Source Initiative, free knowledge and Wikinews, discussing the latter in the context of other models used by Slashdot, Kuro5hin, Daily Kos and others.[17] At an Austrian conference on wikis in Vienna in 2005, Möller discussed the advantages of using wikis to compile statistical data, stating that wikis encourage internal transparency and greater participation among coworkers.[18]

Wikimedia Foundation

Möller has been involved with the Wikimedia Foundation projects including Wikipedia since 2001 both as an editor, as a developer of the MediaWiki software and of Wikinews.[19] He drafted the initial project proposal for Wikinews (using the screenname Eloquence),[20][1] and also was instrumental in developing Wikimedia Commons.[21] He first proposed the idea for Wikimedia Commons in March 2004.[22] Möller described a difference between Wikipedia and Wikinews to The New York Times by saying: "Wikinews articles are short-lived, so there is a reduced feeling of contributing to a knowledge base that will last a lifetime."[1] "We are the new media. We make our own rules,"[23] explained Möller at a 2005 Citizen Reporters' Forum in Seoul.[24] He stated that Wikinews publishes a daily print edition and is working on other formats including an audio version of articles.[23] Möller was interviewed by Journalism.co.uk on the eightfold increase in traffic to Wikinews on the day of the 7 July 2005 London bombings, and on the effects of free news.[25] "While Wikinews is still much, much smaller than Wikipedia, the potential for news coverage goes far beyond what Wikipedia is currently doing," said Möller.[25] He gave periodic "State of the Wiki" reports at Wikinews, where he defended the project's use of both original material and information synthesized from other media sources.[26]

He was appointed the Chief Research Officer of the WMF in June 2005 but resigned in August of the same year, citing personal differences with members of the Board.[27][28]

Deputy Director

Möller had been chief technology officer of Stichting Open Progress,[29] the not-for-profit legal arm of OmegaWiki, based in the Netherlands.[21] At Stichting Open Progress Möller was the manager of a group of developers who worked on the implementation of OmegaWiki.[21] Möller also hosted other wiki communities such as WikiEducator.org.[21]

He was elected in September 2006 to replace Angela Beesley on the Board of the Wikimedia Foundation,[30][31] and in October 2006 he became executive secretary.[32][33] In December 2007 he resigned from the Board and was named Deputy Director.[34] His appointment as Deputy Director of the WMF became effective as of January 10, 2008.[35] In his role as Deputy Director Möller has been involved with financing analysis for the Wikimedia Foundation, and with Executive Director Sue Gardner gave a presentation to Sun Microsystems in an attempt to gain funding from the company for WMF.[36] This presentation was later leaked to Wikinews.[36] As Deputy Director of the WMF, Möller is responsible for managing and implementing the technical strategy of the organization.[21][37] Möller explained to the Los Angeles Times that the foundation needed to be careful with the kinds of deals they wanted to make, and said: "We don't want to endanger the mission by entering into deals that would conflict with it."[38] Ian Kennedy and Lorna Uden consulted Möller for advice and help with their article "Learning with Laptops" published in the 2008 book Encyclopedia of Information Technology Curriculum Integration.[39]

Möller is the Wikimedia Foundation's representative on the institutional council of the Encyclopedia of Life.[40] Through this contact, Möller helped convince the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation (a backer of the Encyclopedia of Life) to donate $3 million to Wikimedia, the single largest donation Wikimedia has received to date.[41]

References

  1. ^ a b c Weiss, Aaron (2005-02-10). "The Unassociated Press". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
  2. ^ Lih, Andrew (2004-08-07). "The Foundations of Participatory Journalism and the Wikipedia Project", Conference Paper for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications - Communications Technology and Policy Division, Toronto, Canada, jmsc.hku.hk. Retrieved on 13 May 2008. 
  3. ^ a b c Moeller, Erik. "Erik Moellers homepage". Archived from the original on 2007-08-27. Retrieved on 2008-09-16.
  4. ^ Moeller, Erik. "MyOO - wiki hosting". Archived from the original on 2007-08-26. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  5. ^ a b Erik Möller in the German National Library catalogue
  6. ^ "Schöne neue Onlinewelt? - Erik Möller beschwört eine „heimliche Medienrevolution“ durch das Internet" (in German). Berliner Literaturkritik. www.berlinerliteraturkritik.de (2005-07-29). Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
  7. ^ "Wie Weblogs, Wikis und freie Software die Welt verändern / Telepolis-Buch: "Die heimliche Medienrevolution"" (in German). Presseportal: Telepolis. www.presseportal.de (2006-02-03). Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
  8. ^ "Der blinde Fleck" (in German). Berliner Literaturkritik. www.berlinerliteraturkritik.de (2005-07-29). Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
  9. ^ a b Ebersbach, Anja; Markus Glaser, Richard Heigl, Gunter Dueck (2006). Wiki: Web collaboration. Springer Verlag, 28, 348, 378. ISBN 3540259953. 
  10. ^ Schwall, Johannes (2003). "The wiki phenomenon", University of Münster, pp. 10-11. Retrieved on 13 May 2008. 
  11. ^ "Wenn die Gehirne tanzen" (in German). heise online. Heise Zeitschriften Verlag (2003-05-30). Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
  12. ^ Möller, Erik (2003-05-09). "TP: Das Wiki-Prinzip - Tanz der Gehirne". Telepolis. www.heise.de. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  13. ^ Moeller, Erik. "Erik Moeller Scientific Review Service". Archived from the original on 2007-08-27. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  14. ^ a b Mennecke, Thomas (2004-11-16). "Top 10 File-Sharing News Alternatives". Slyck News. www.slyck.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
  15. ^ "FreedomDefined.org: Was ist eine "freie Lizenz"". Golem.de. www.golem.de (2006-05-18). Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
  16. ^ Möller, Erik; Joel Schlosberg and colleagues (2005-12-30). "Origins of Peace and Violence: Introduction". www.violence.de. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  17. ^ "Blogs vom Bauchnabel oder für die kritische Öffentlichkeit" (in German). heise online. Heise Zeitschriften Verlag (2005-09-05). Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
  18. ^ "Wikis: Zurück in die Zukunft". heise online. Heise Zeitschriften Verlag (2005-07-11). Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
  19. ^ Kiss, Jemina (2004-12-15). "Wikinews trumpets online revolution", Online Journalism News, Mousetrap Media Ltd. Retrieved on 13 May 2008. 
  20. ^ Allan, Stuart (2006). Online news: journalism and the Internet. McGraw-Hill International, 136. ISBN 0335221211. 
  21. ^ a b c d e Donohue, Alex (2008-01-10). "Wikimedia hires Moeller as deputy director". Brand Republic News. Brand Republic. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  22. ^ Möller, Erik (2004-03-19). "Proposal: commons.wikimedia.org". [Wikipedia-l]. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  23. ^ a b Kiss, Jemima (2005-07-14). "News round-up: Citizen journalism is officially cool". Journalism.co.uk - Online Journalism News. Mousetrap Media Ltd. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  24. ^ Pollard, William (2005-07-11). "Citizen Reporters Turn to Print for Delivery". OhmyNews International. english.ohmynews.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
  25. ^ a b Kiss, Jemima (2005-07-13). "Wikinews supercharged by London bombings coverage". Journalism.co.uk - Online Journalism News. Mousetrap Media Ltd. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  26. ^ Kolodzy, Janet (2006). Convergence Journalism: Writing and Reporting Across the News Media. Rowman & Littlefield, 238-239, 243. ISBN 0742538869. 
  27. ^ Möller, Erik (2005-08-17). "Resignation as CRO". [Foundation-l]. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
  28. ^ "Chief Research Officer". Wikimedia Foundation. Archived from the original on 2008-01-28. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  29. ^ Staff (2008-01-20). "Bay Area Biz: Movers and shakers". San Francisco Chronicle. www.sfgate.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  30. ^ Kleinz, Torsten (2007-01-20). "TP: Die neuen Herausforderungen der Wikipedia" (in German). Telepolis. www.heise.de. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
  31. ^ "Resolution:Replacement Board member 2006 - Wikimedia Foundation". Wikimedia Foundation (2006-09-26). Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
  32. ^ "Wechsel an der Wikimedia-Spitze" (in German). heise online. www.heise.de (2006-10-28). Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
  33. ^ "Jimmy Wales sai da presidência da enciclopédia online Wikipedia" (in Portuguese). Carreira - IDG Now!. idgnow.uol.com.br (2006-11-06). Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
  34. ^ Gardner, Sue (2007-12-18). "Announcing Erik Moeller as Wikimedia Deputy Director". [Foundation-l]. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
  35. ^ "Erik Möller Deputy Director - Wikimedia Foundation". Wikimedia Foundation (2008-01-09). Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
  36. ^ a b "Zwei Millionen US-Dollar für Wikipedia & Co" (in German). heise online. Heise Zeitschriften Verlag (2008-01-09). Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
  37. ^ Staff (2008-01-13). "Bay Area Biz : January 2008". San Francisco Chronicle. www.sfgate.com. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  38. ^ Semuels, Alana (2008-03-13). "Wikipedia Experiences Growing Pains", Los Angeles Times, p. Financial section. 
  39. ^ Tomei, Lawrence A. (2008). Encyclopedia of Information Technology Curriculum Integration. Idea Group Inc (IGI), 547. ISBN 1599048817. 
  40. ^ "Institutional Partners". Encyclopedia of Life. www.eol.org. Retrieved on 2008-06-11.
  41. ^ Gardner, Sue (2008-03-25). "Sloan awards Wikimedia USD 1m annually for three years". [Foundation-l]. Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved on 2008-05-15.

Further reading

External links

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