Wikinews Chat/Invitation

Invitation text

Dear X,

In December 2004, the Wikimedia Foundation, which operates the Wikipedia encyclopedia, launched the Wikinews project, a beta foray into citizen journalism. Anyone is invited to contribute articles to Wikinews, or to improve existing ones. Unlike stories on activist websites, Wikinews articles have to be written from a neutral point of view, and factual claims must be sourced. The English edition can be found at:

http://en.wikinews.org/

We are inviting notable bloggers to participate in an online chat on citizen journalism and the interaction between bloggers and the Wikinews project. There will be an introduction to the Wikinews project and an open discussion with lots of room for questions. We will also try to highlight ways in which bloggers can get content from Wikinews, as well as contribute content. The event will take place on Internet Relay Chat. You can find out more about IRC here:

http://www.mirc.co.uk/irc.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat

The "Wikinews and Blogs" chat will take place on Saturday, February 5, 2005, 22:00 UTC on the #wikinews channel on irc.freenode.net. You can learn more about the event at

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikinews_Chat

A Java IRC client applet has been set up to connect to the chat, and can be accessed at

http://homepage.mac.com/chrisw4all/launchIRC.html //

We would be very pleased should you decide to participate in this event. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Best regards,

Y