User:George Swan: Difference between revisions

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imported>George Swan
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I have been a contributor to the wikipedia, with over 22,000 edits under my belt there.
==Bio==
During my first year there I contributed mainly to non-controversial areas, like nautical history.
Among my interests are the history of science, nautical history, and social justice.
About two years ago I started spending more energy working on articles related to the war on terror.
In recent years I have been writing about the implications of the "[[global war on terror]]".
I have been ploughing my way through the documents the Department of Defense has released about the
captives held in Guantanamo.


One of my biggest frustrations with the wikipedia is the routine lack of compliance to its policies on civility, and related policies in its deletion fora.  A related frustration I have is the lack of a fora to discuss the project's future growth.  There are subgroups on the wikipedia who self-identify themselves as "mergists", "deletionists", "inclusionist", and rather than discussing the pros and cons of those alternate visions of the project, they hand
In September of 2005 I came across unclassified dossiers from the [[Combatant Status Review Tribunal]]s
out in the deletion fora and vote on the future of articles not based on the article's merit, but on how it fits in their vision of the project's future.
held for captives held in [[extrajudicial detention]] in the [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp]]s, in [[Cuba]].


In my real life I am a computer programmer
On [[March 3]] [[2006]], in response to a [[court order]], the [[Department of Defense]] released 60 large [[portable document format]] files containing several hundred transcripts from the CSR Tribunals, I set myself the goal of reading through them.
[[Category:CZ Authors]]
Since then the DoD has released an additional 10,000 or so pages of documents.  I plan to read them all.
 
Writing about this material, on a project like the Citizendium, can be difficult, because authors have to keep from inserting their own conclusions and interpretations.  So, I try to make more of an effort to maintain neutrality.
 
I think anyone who has a concern that I have lapsed from neutrality will be satisfied that I take their ocncern seriously.    I'll ask only that you be specific.  [[User:George Swan|George Swan]] 17:15, 18 October 2007 (CDT)
 
==Work==
The rest of this page will point at my rough work, and the tools I use.
 
===Public Domain and free images I have uploaded===
 
====Maps====
 
I have created [[User:George Swan/my maps|one hundred or so maps]], all using [http://www.aquarius.geomar.de/omc/ a free online map-making tool]  Other people make much better maps than mine.  I'd be happy to get pointers.  But for freely distributable maps that can be created very easily, this tool can't be beat.
 
====Images from US Federal agencies====
 
The work of employees of US Federal agencies, in performance of their duties, is in the public domain.  One can find cool images there if one does a google image search confined to the '''".mil"''' or '''".gov"'''.  Not all images this turns up will be public domain.  Some State agencies are also under the .gov domain.  Photos may be the product of an employee of a firm which works, on contract, for the US Federal government.  Those aren't PD.  And neither, of course, are images that have a credit to a third party.  [[User:George Swan/PDimages|US PD images]]

Revision as of 17:15, 18 October 2007

Bio

Among my interests are the history of science, nautical history, and social justice. In recent years I have been writing about the implications of the "global war on terror".

In September of 2005 I came across unclassified dossiers from the Combatant Status Review Tribunals held for captives held in extrajudicial detention in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.

On March 3 2006, in response to a court order, the Department of Defense released 60 large portable document format files containing several hundred transcripts from the CSR Tribunals, I set myself the goal of reading through them. Since then the DoD has released an additional 10,000 or so pages of documents. I plan to read them all.

Writing about this material, on a project like the Citizendium, can be difficult, because authors have to keep from inserting their own conclusions and interpretations. So, I try to make more of an effort to maintain neutrality.

I think anyone who has a concern that I have lapsed from neutrality will be satisfied that I take their ocncern seriously. I'll ask only that you be specific. George Swan 17:15, 18 October 2007 (CDT)

Work

The rest of this page will point at my rough work, and the tools I use.

Public Domain and free images I have uploaded

Maps

I have created one hundred or so maps, all using a free online map-making tool Other people make much better maps than mine. I'd be happy to get pointers. But for freely distributable maps that can be created very easily, this tool can't be beat.

Images from US Federal agencies

The work of employees of US Federal agencies, in performance of their duties, is in the public domain. One can find cool images there if one does a google image search confined to the ".mil" or ".gov". Not all images this turns up will be public domain. Some State agencies are also under the .gov domain. Photos may be the product of an employee of a firm which works, on contract, for the US Federal government. Those aren't PD. And neither, of course, are images that have a credit to a third party. US PD images