This video features Fabian discussing Typedia, the Tübingen City Wiki, as it celebrates its 18th anniversary. He explains its origin in 2007, filling a niche for local information below Wikipedia's scope, driven by the Web 2.0 ethos of user-generated content. Fabian, who wrote the first article, describes Typedia as a privately hosted MediaWiki installation with over 8,000 articles and 6,000 images, serving as a "digital city memory." He highlights its "both and" motto, focusing on Tübingen-specific content spanning places, people, and historical events. The presentation covers Typedia's features, including rich media integration (banners, YouTube, OpenStreetMap maps, audio files, slider photos comparing past and present), its community-driven editing process (including challenges with spam and updates), and its ethos of embracing iterative improvement ("never finished," "be brave"). Future aspirations include deeper collaboration with the city archives and exploring decentralized video hosting solutions.
Summarizing the Tübingen City Wiki: 18 Years of Local Digital Memory
0:00:21 Introduction to Typedia: Fabian presents the Tübingen City Wiki, Typedia, highlighting its 18th anniversary celebration this year, having been founded in February/March 2007.
0:01:19 Founding & Vision: Inspired by the Web 2.0 era and a perceived "gap" for highly localized information not covered by Wikipedia, Typedia was established. Fabian, a geographer, personally wrote the first article about the French Quarter in March 2007.
0:02:46 Collaborative Genesis: The idea for a city wiki arose independently for Fabian and Gerhard Gröbe, a photojournalist, around a January 2007 media event. Gröbe then set up the empty MediaWiki installation and registered the domains.
0:04:08 Coming of Age Celebrations: Typedia's 18th anniversary includes events like this talk, an information evening, articles in local magazines, and a panel discussion on "The Truth on the Internet" in the town hall (available on YouTube).
0:06:05 Scope and Content: Typedia, using the same MediaWiki software as Wikipedia but privately hosted, boasts 8,173 articles and 6,144 images. It documents everything connected to Tübingen, from streets and squares to people, shops, events, and historical dates, acting as a dynamic chronicle and "digital city memory."
0:08:17 "Both And" Motto: The wiki focuses on content with a "Tübingen connection," such as Giordano Bruno's brief visit, rather than comprehensive biographies, which Wikipedia handles. Articles start simply and grow through community contributions of text, links, and images.
0:10:00 Networked Information: Content is categorized by places, people, and time (e.g., articles for specific years, like "1548"), allowing users to "click through from link to link" and immerse themselves in the city's history.
0:14:26 Distinction from Wikipedia: Typedia is described as more "down-to-earth" and "media-open" than Wikipedia. It features custom banner images, embedded YouTube videos and audio files, and integration with OpenStreetMap.
0:19:13 OpenStreetMap Integration: A specialist programmed a function that queries OpenStreetMap using article names to embed maps and related information, even highlighting buildings associated with specific street addresses.
0:20:26 User-Friendly Editing: While it started with source code editing, a visual editor is now available to make contributions more accessible for non-coders.
0:21:04 Suggestions for Decentralized Video: A participant suggests using free, decentralized video solutions like Peertube instead of YouTube for alignment with "Digital Freedom Day" principles.
0:24:02 The "Digital Knowledge Tree" Metaphor: Fabian illustrates Typedia's structure using a tree analogy: roots in space and time, the trunk as core places, and branches as categories (people, events, institutions), emphasizing the interconnected "neural network" of information.
0:27:47 Tübinger Innovations & History: A user points out that ultramarine blue pigment was artificially developed and invented in Tübingen by Mr. Gmelin, which Fabian encourages adding to the wiki. The wiki also preserves information about former establishments, like the Gmelin pharmacy.
0:29:12 Interactive Comments: Some articles feature a comment function to add perspectives and voices, moving beyond a purely neutral standpoint, making the content more lively.
0:29:52 Editing & Spam Challenges: Anonymous editing is possible for existing articles, but new article creation by unregistered users has been disabled due to issues with spam from "Canadian online casinos."
0:31:10 Handling Difficult Topics: The discussion pages allow for multiple opinions on contentious subjects, though older, more timeless topics are less problematic.
0:33:33 Guidelines & "Be Brave" Motto: There are guidelines for writing good articles, but contributors are encouraged to "just get started" and not strive for initial perfection, embracing the iterative nature of digital publishing. Typedia adheres to Wikipedia's motto "Be brave."
0:37:21 Ranking Among City Wikis: Typedia ranks around 16th or 17th among German-language city wikis by article count, noting that Vienna's professional wiki is an outlier. The number of active users (around 10-13) is relatively small.
0:38:18 Collaboration with City Archives: Fabian volunteers at the city archives and discusses future collaboration, including potentially linking to archive pages or integrating content.
0:39:19 Wiki Monday Stammtisch: Typedia organizes a regular "Wiki Monday" meeting on the third Monday of each month at Herzog Ulrich for contributors to meet and discuss.
0:40:02 Advanced Features: Newer "gimmicks" include "slider photos" (copied from the FT city wiki) that allow users to compare historical and current images by sliding a divider, showcasing historical changes like the market square with a swastika flag in 1933 versus today.
0:44:00 Sourcing and Eyewitness Accounts: Unlike Wikipedia's strict sourcing, Typedia allows for "eyewitness experience" as a form of source, with an ongoing idea to implement a "truth point" extension for contemporary witnesses.
0:44:48 Tooling and User-Friendliness: A user expresses frustration with the uploading and editing tools, particularly for images, and mentions that younger users accustomed to modern social media find the interface challenging. Fabian acknowledges the need for better user-friendliness and explains update challenges due to custom skin and extensions.
0:47:09 Call for Tech Volunteers: Typedia welcomes help from people skilled in backend programming, PHP, or MySQL to overcome update hurdles and improve the platform.