Wikipedia

Simon Pulsifer

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

File:PulsiferLargerWiki.jpg
Simon Pulsifer in the stacks of the University of Ottawa library.
Photo by Paul Couvrette [1]

Biography

Pulsifer grew up in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. He attended the French immersion programme at Rockcliffe Park Public School from kindergarten to grade 6. In June 2000, he graduated from Lisgar Collegiate Institute, and went on to study History at the University of Toronto [1].

Pulsifer became an active contributor of Wikipedia in 2002 under the username SimonP. Since that time he was regularly listed as a leading contributor (called editor on Wikipedia, contrary to the use of editor for a traditional encyclopedia) to Wikipedia. While studying for his bachelor's degree he said he spent over six hours a day editing and creating articles for Wikipedia [2][3] . Pulsifer explained his devotion to Wikipedia as follows: "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."[4] Pulsifer serves in the positions of administrator (contributors who have some more tools in managing the encyclopedia, such as blocking other users or deleting articles), and as of January 2006 arbitrator (contributors who devote some of their time to solving disputes between other contributors), on the English-language Wikipedia [5].

He currently lives in Ottawa, and most recently was the computer systems manager for Ottawa mayoral candidate Alex Munter.[4]

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[6][7]. Later, Pulsifer was the subject of stories in the Globe and Mail and Macleans[1][2][4]. 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 [2][8]. Together with Wikipedia founder Jimbo 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. [9] 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"[10]. 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." [11]

References

  1. ^ a b Gulli, Cathy (August 15 2006). ""Meet Mr. Know-it-all: Simon Pulsifer"". Maclean's. Retrieved 2006-10-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ a b c Rundle, Lisa (Winter 2006). ""Wikipedia Wonderboy"". University of Toronto Magazine. Retrieved 2006-10-04.
  3. ^ Gaudiano, Nicole (February 27 2006). ""Inside the world of Wikipedians, there's drama, politics and love"". USA Today (Gannet News Service). Retrieved 2006-10-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ a b c ""Prolific Canadian is king of Wikipedia"". Globe and Mail. 4 August 2006. Retrieved 2006-10-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Flcelloguy (January 23 2006). ""Jimbo Wales appoints 11 arbitrators, increases committee size"". Wikipedia Signpost. Retrieved 2006-10-04. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ The Ottawa Citizen August 11 2005 p. A2
  7. ^ The Ottawa Citizen December 13 2005 p. A13
  8. ^ Maslanka, Katie (April 2006). ""Academics question Wikipedia's credibility"". The Ithacan. Retrieved 2006-10-04.
  9. ^ Ashbrook, Tom (August 2006). ""Wikipedia: Open Intelligence"". WBUR/NPR. Retrieved 2006-10-04.
  10. ^ Grossman, Lev (16 December 2006). ""Simon Pulsifer: The Duke of Data"". Time Magazine. Retrieved 2006-12-17. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  11. ^ Barrera, Jorge (18 December 2006). ""Out Time Has Come: Ottawa Man in Vanguard of Revolution"". Ottawa Sun. Retrieved 2006-12-18. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

See also

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