From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| This is a Wikipedia user page.
This is not an encyclopedia article. If you find this page on any site other than Wikipedia, you are viewing a mirror site. Be aware that the page may be outdated and that the user to whom this page belongs may have no personal affiliation with any site other than Wikipedia itself. The original page is located at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Leifern.
|
My thoughts on Wikipedia
[edit] Who I am
I am the same person as commons:User:Leifern and no:User:Leifern. --Leifern 15:31, 1 February 2007 (UTC)
I am a management consultant, presently working with a niche firm that focuses on clients that participate in market-intermediated capital formation. In the past I've worked with clients in a wide range of industries on problems on the best use technology to solve business problems. I've helped pharmaceutical companies with medical research programs, banks with risk and compliance issues, media and entertainment companies with new business development, and a number of companies on topics related to intellectual capital formation. I've had my own firm from time to time, and also been part of the consulting staff at McKinsey & Company, Accenture, and a now defunct but lovable firm known as Viant.
My interests include cooking, photography, ethics, current events, and various religious issues.
A native of Norway, I was raised there, Canada, and Austria. I have my university education from San Francisco State University and Columbia Business School. I live in the suburbs of New Jersey and commute to New York City.
I have over 9,000 edits under my belt, of which about 5,800 are in the main space - with hope I am getting better at this stuff. My edit count is more or less hidden at the bottom of this page, but there's a significant lag.
[edit] Now an inclusionist
I got off the fence and joined the Association of Inclusionist Wikipedians, for all the reasons the association provides. The debacle over the article on Solveig Fiske finally convinced me, as I realized that deletionists want articles deleted simply for reasons that simply don't make any sense to me.
[edit] Places I've been and lived
[edit] If you're going here because you're irritated by my edits
- No, Wikipedia is not a place for you to promote your version of the truth
- A neutral point of view means, among other things, that a reader should walk away from an article with a clear sense of what the controversy is all about.
- It is a true statement to say that "some people believe the earth is flat," even if the earth isn't flat.
- Too many articles in Wikipedia are cluttered by editorial asides that belong in other articles.
- I'm sorry - well not really - if facts don't fit your sense of reality.
- Having said that, I appreciate that the same events look different depending on your point of view. This means that a neutral point of view should be recognizable to to both (or all) sides, even if there is much else they disagree about.
- Looking to the majority to decide political issues makes sense; looking to the majority for the truth is foolish. Everything we hold to be true now was once only believed by a heretical minority.
- The next question after someone says: "The majority of people/nations/experts believe X" should be "why?" not "why do you believe differently?"
- I tend to strive for MECE structures. Look it up.
- I am not above these standards myself, and I am far from infallible. But you still have to convince me that I'm wrong.
- I do get annoyed sometimes. I shouldn't, but I care about the things I write about.
[edit] Interests and accomplishments
I believe to have moved knowledge forward in the following areas:
- History of Norway, especially World War II history (Shoah in Norway, Occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany and various related articles), but also notable Norway in 1814 and Norway in 1905; also see Gunboat War
- DP Camps and especially Sh'erit ha-Pletah
- Norwegian political issues, e.g., Kings Bay Affair, Norway and the European Union, and Alta controversy
- Oppdal, where I was born
- Lysaker, where I lived much of my life
- Ocean Falls, where I also lived for a few years
- Architecture of Norway
- Feminism in Norway; Katti Anker Møller, Karen-Christine Friele, Berit Ås, Aasta Hansteen
- Norwegian photography
- Jews in Norway, History of the Jews in Denmark
- Knute Nelson (ongoing)
- Maplewood, New Jersey, especially the history section
I would like to write more on Norwegian architecture, history, and politics. I'd like to finish the article on Knute Nelson and write more on Norwegian-American topics. There are also a large number of Norwegian writers who deserve their own article, as well as other leaders, including politicians and activists. There are quite a few impressive feminists from Norway.
[edit] Other stuff
[edit] External links
[edit] Did you know articles
- Louis Kaufman, whom I heard about on NPR - fascinating story about one of the most heard musicians of all time, yet until a Wikipedia entry until I wrote it.
- Alta controversy, a controversy that was way more interesting than I realized at the time
- Damsgård, a small architectural treasure in Norway that was a gaping red link in the Architecture of Norway article
- Trondheim prelature, a small Catholic jurisdiction that caught my interest on account of the controversy about Solveig Fiske's notability
- Siege of Lathom House, a fascinating bit of English history I learned about from the Steeleye Span song They Called Her Babylon
- Edwy Searles Brooks, aka Berkeley Grey and others, a prolific action adventure writer active in the 1930s through the 1960s
- Kunstnernes Hus, an interesting building in Oslo.
- Jewish Children's Home in Oslo, a compelling episode in Norwegian and Jewish history
- Svinøy fyrstasjon, one of a series of articles on Norwegian lighthouses
- Plateau Station, a research and support station in Antarctica
- Ruth Maier, an incredibly talented writer lost in the Holocaust at age 22.
- Odd Nansen, an architect and humanitarian who deserves more publicity and recognition than he's had
- The organization he founded, Nansenhjelpen, which worked tirelessly and bravely to rescue Jews from Czechoslovakia before it was too late
- Kjesäter, now a tiny little hamlet, but once the main center for refugees from Nazi-occupied Norway.
- Knut Rød, the subject of one of the strangest trials in Norwegian history
