Simon Pulsifer

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Simon Pulsifer

Simon Pulsifer in the stacks of the University of Ottawa library. Photo by Paul Couvrette
Born September 11, 1981
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Residence Ottawa, Ontario
Occupation Writer
Website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:SimonP

Simon Edward Pulsifer (born September 11, 1981 in Halifax, Nova Scotia) is a contributor to the English-language Wikipedia whose prolific participation made him a subject of human interest stories in the media beginning in 2005.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Pulsifer grew up in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He attended the French immersion programme at Rockcliffe Park Public School from kindergarten to grade 6. He recalls he was never active in sports.[1] In June 2000, he graduated from Lisgar Collegiate Institute, and went on to study History at the University of Toronto.[2]

Pulsifer became an active contributor of Wikipedia in 2002 under the username SimonP, after hearing about the site from The New York Times Magazine in December 2001.[3] Since that time he was regularly listed as a leading contributor to Wikipedia.[4] While studying for his bachelor's degree he said he spent over six hours a day editing and creating articles for Wikipedia.[5] [6] Pulsifer explained his devotion to Wikipedia as follows:[7]

It's important that people around the world have access to free, accurate and unbiased information. Wikipedia tries to do that, and it's a very honourable and admirable goal.

He spoke at Wikimania 2006, hosted at Harvard Law School.[1]

Now residing in Toronto,[3][1] he lived in Ottawa for many years. He has worked for the political campaigns of politicans in both cities; Paul Dewar (Ottawa Centre),[1] Olivia Chow (Trinity Spadina),[1] and most recently was the computer systems manager for Ottawa mayoral candidate Alex Munter.[7]

His father is Dr. Cameron Pulsifer,[1] from the Canadian War Museum's Research and Exhibitions department, Special Projects.[8] His mother, Diana Pepall, works at the Ottawa Public Library, acting as manager of collection development services.[1]

[edit] Media interest

As a result of Pulsifer's prolific Wikipedia contributions, and concurrent with a period of tremendous public and press interest in Wikipedia, Pulsifer became a subject for human interest stories in the press. Some of the first stories about Pulsifer were published in The Ottawa Citizen.[9] [10] Later, Pulsifer was the subject of stories in the Globe and Mail and Macleans. [2][5][7] The Globe and Mail called him the "King of Wikipedia", noting at the time he had edited more than 78,000 articles and created more than 2,000.[5] [11] [3] In the January 18, 2007 edition of the Ottawa Citizen, Pulsifer discussed how the write-up in Time garnered him tremendous attention, and a job.[1]

Together with Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, he made an appearance on the On Point show, broadcast in many locations in the United States on National Public Radio, on August 2, 2006.[12] In December 2006 Time Magazine published its annual "Person of the Year" issue in which the person elected was "You", in reference to user-generated content. Simon and Wikipedia were featured in this high-profile cover-story in an article entitled "Simon Pulsifer: The Duke of Data".[13] Soon after on December 18th the Ottawa Sun said Simon had "become a poster boy for a revolution," with Simon saying of Wikipedia "I think the Internet is central to almost everyone's lives these days and Wikipedia has become a central feature of it."[14]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Bray, Richard. "The Disciple and the prophet", The Ottawa Citizen, 2007-01-18. Retrieved on January 18, 2007. (in English)
  2. ^ a b Gulli, Cathy (August 15, 2006). "Meet Mr. Know-it-all: Simon Pulsifer". Maclean's. Retrieved on October 4, 2006.
  3. ^ a b c Amber MacArthur (12 March 2007). King of Wikipedia. Retrieved on March 27, 2007.
  4. ^ Contributors to Wikipedia are called editors, contrary to the use of editor for traditional encyclopedias.
  5. ^ a b c Rundle, Lisa (Winter 2006). "Wikipedia Wonderboy". University of Toronto Magazine. Retrieved on October 4, 2006.
  6. ^ Gaudiano, Nicole (February 27, 2006). "Inside the world of Wikipedians, there's drama, politics and love". USA Today (Gannet News Service). Retrieved on October 4, 2006.
  7. ^ a b c Alexandra Shimo (4 August 2006). "Prolific Canadian is king of Wikipedia". Globe and Mail. Retrieved on October 4, 2006.
  8. ^ Canadian War Museum Staff Directory. Canadian War Museum. Retrieved on March 13, 2007.
  9. ^ The Ottawa Citizen August 11, 2005 p. A2
  10. ^ The Ottawa Citizen December 13, 2005 p. A13
  11. ^ Maslanka, Katie (April 2006). "Academics question Wikipedia’s credibility". The Ithacan. Retrieved on October 4, 2006.
  12. ^ Ashbrook, Tom (August 2006). "Wikipedia: Open Intelligence". WBUR/NPR. Retrieved on October 4, 2006.
  13. ^ Grossman, Lev (16 December 2006). "Simon Pulsifer: The Duke of Data". Time Magazine. Retrieved on December 17, 2006.
  14. ^ Barrera, Jorge (18 December 2006). "Out Time Has Come: Ottawa Man in Vanguard of Revolution". Ottawa Sun. Retrieved on December 18, 2006.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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