Wiki Controlling Insticts - part 1: Me and Wael Ghoneim

Summary: Revolutions is sweeping the Arab world. They are all tagged as the FaceBook revolutions. I agree. FaceBook was a key instrument that created the critical mass required to make the change. in Tunisia, Libya, Yemen and Syria. But not in  Egypt. The Egyptian revolution is a Wikipedia Revolution on FaceBook. This is the first part of the story.

First, let me brag: I am proud that I have had direct contact with Wael Ghoneim, the leader of the young revolution.

Last year, I was part of Google's Health Speaks project that donates to charity based on translating Wikipedia Health articles from English to another language. I joined the Arabic project. Except for me, all the participants were Egyptians. I was amazed how chaotically organized they were. I say it is a positive note. You could not figure out who is who. People come and go. One person start an article yet someone else would finish it. In any academic book, this is chaotic. Yet, they were able to score the highest charity donation. Through chaos, they mobilized each other to successfully achieve their goal .Just like I imagine the bees work. A lot of chaotic incomprehensible buzz that results in the sweetest honey.

Later, during the revolution, I had a sense that the young faction leading the revolution were working in a similar spirit. I did not relate my sense to reality until Wael made his TED speech and mentioned "Like Wikipedia".  It stroke me. Wikipedians have a different "mental paradigm" that make them so chaotic, yet so productive. That is when my thesis on "Wikipedian Controlling Instincts" came from! Later about this, for now, let me focus on my brag.

When the relationship between my sense and reality established, I jumped to my Gmail to see if Wael was involved in the Google Health Speaks projects. I did a quick search on the name, and found our 5 threads from Wael in my gmail archive. Unfortunately, I used to delete the old email, if I did not, I would have found more. But the important thing is that I had interactions with him... I had interactions with the Wael... it is a starnge feeling! Feel or pride... it is like saying I shock the hand of Martin Luther King... not once, but five times... even more!

Back to reality. My ego is full enough. When I made this discovery, I went back to the surviving Google Health Speak emails and went throught them. I was amazed to discover that most of the participants in the project were active in inducing and participating the revolution! Amazing. The spirit of working in a google-wikipedia environment is the same spirit that prevailed among the youth of the Egyptian revolution. Not necessarily the same spirit that has driven the other revolution. Somehow different. I will address my observations in another blog. For now, let me enjoy the feeling that I had an interaction with Wael Ghoneim and the other young Egyptian revolutionaries, through a connectivist-like approach.

I leave you with Wael's TED presentation:

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