MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

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Richard Kaufman
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MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 29th, 2007, 6:02 pm

Brad Aldridge had a great idea about four months ago: create a version of wikipedia for the world of magic. He's worked very hard since then, with a bit of guidance from me, and MagicPedia is now ready.

Go to www.magicpedia.net and take a look.

Like Wikipedia, MagicPedia will be created by the people who read and use it. Youll have to register (a simple procedure to keep out riff-raff, both human and automated), then youll be able to write new entires and edit existing ones.

If you just want to read what other folks have written, theres no need to register. But its more fun to get involved.

Our webmaster and designer Brad Aldridge has also made MagicPedia fully video enabled, so youll be able to embed YouTube (and many other types of) videos in the entries.

Now, in case youve never seen Wikipedia, let me explain a bit about how it works. MagicPedia is literally a blank slate at the moment. When you enter, you will want to try searching for something-lets say, for example, Double Lift. If you find an entry, you may want to add to it, edit it, or imbed a video demonstrating a Double Lift. If you do not find an entry, then you can be the first to create one. Be aware that all text is subject to editing by others, which is the wonderful thing about it-its a living encyclopedia and the contents are always in flux.

There are categories set up for most branches of magic, including stage, close-up, parlor, mentalism, biographies, Genii, etc.

MagicPedia will be monitored to ensure that as little bogus information as possible is posted, and we may lock certain entries if theres too much mischief, but we look forward to creating a thriving encyclopedia of magic and magicians--and we welcome you to join the fun at www.magicpedia.net.
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Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » September 29th, 2007, 6:16 pm

Ooooh. This is a VERY cool idea! We could capture much of the information about local and minor magicians that would be otherwise lost.

Kudos to everyone who has made this possible.

The only downside I foresee is that this is going to be extremely addictive...

Thanks so much!

e

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Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 29th, 2007, 6:17 pm

Would love to hear from anyone who's gone over to MagicPedia and contributed or edited. Please post a link to your work.
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Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Jim Maloney_dup1 » September 29th, 2007, 6:31 pm

Nice...I just signed up. Look for an article on Nate Leipzig in the near future. ;)

-Jim

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Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 29th, 2007, 6:55 pm

Lovely.
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Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » September 29th, 2007, 7:12 pm

Did you see this yet?

http://amgwiki.elwiki.com/Magipedia

E

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Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 29th, 2007, 7:23 pm

Elliot, that site has nothing to do with our type of magic--it's some weird [censored] about either witchcraft or some type of roll-playing game. Who can tell? Who cares?

Back to MagicPedia.

Contribute, don't confuse.
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Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Evan Shuster » September 29th, 2007, 7:26 pm

Yikes!
Just when I thought my calendar was filled. This is sure to take up more time than my wife will be pleased with. Even so... thanks! :)

Guest

Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » September 29th, 2007, 8:40 pm

Wasn't trying to confuse any one at all Mr. K.
Just a heads up really.

I figured I'd try to google the word magipedia,that's all.
Got quite a few hits. Seems there are at least a couple of entities out there using the word magipedia.

Just something to consider when telling our friends how to find the Magipedia website.
:D

Peace,
E

Guest

Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » September 29th, 2007, 8:50 pm

Originally posted by Richard Kaufman:
MagicPedia
look closely. ;)

Guest

Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » September 29th, 2007, 9:07 pm

Ahhhh

:rolleyes:

Thank you, Magicalaurie.

Sorry, Mr. K.

Peace,
E

Guest

Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » September 30th, 2007, 6:28 am

Well done, Richard and company! This will be a terrific resource. I'm not registered there yet, but here's a quick edit. On the Main Page, 2nd paragraph, 2nd line, delete one "the".

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Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Jim Maloney_dup1 » September 30th, 2007, 7:00 am

Originally posted by Tom Frame:
Well done, Richard and company! This will be a terrific resource. I'm not registered there yet, but here's a quick edit. On the Main Page, 2nd paragraph, 2nd line, delete one "the".
That page appears to be locked, so I think Richard and Brad are the only ones who can edit it.

-Jim

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Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 30th, 2007, 2:19 pm

37 people already signed up, but only "RobMagus" has made any contributions.

Write, my friends, write! Anyone can contribute--don't be shy. The whole idea is to get the ball rolling.
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Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » October 1st, 2007, 9:09 am

:eek:

i have tons to add.
when i have more time of course.

:D

Guest

Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » October 1st, 2007, 11:37 am

Originally posted by Elliot G.:

Thank you, Magicalaurie.

Very welcome, Elliot.

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Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Richard Kaufman » October 1st, 2007, 12:57 pm

Joe Pecore just added a great post on Paul Harris, and someone else (Doug Peters) has added an enormous entry on Doug Henning.
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Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » October 1st, 2007, 2:43 pm

Sorry for the dumb question, but what exactly is talked about in Magicpedia? Are methods and techniques discussed? Is it more about magicians and their history? Are there any safeguards to prevent exposure?

Guest

Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » October 1st, 2007, 2:54 pm

Hi--another question(s):
Is properly-attributed copyrighted material allowed, say, an extended quote or review from a magazine? --As long as the publisher's info is cited, is that o.k.? --Or does every single item have to be in one's own words?

This will be fun either way! Thanks for starting such a project.

Guest

Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » October 1st, 2007, 3:18 pm

Richard

I will copy across some of the stuff on timeline history of magic and conjuring terms that I wrote for Wikipedia. Since I wrote the originals, I don't even need to acknowledge GNU copyright.

Valentina

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Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Roger M. » October 1st, 2007, 3:47 pm

That Doug Henning article is far and away the best one I've ever read on Doug, Genii and Magic articles included.

I'm a lifelong Henning fan and I've read 'em all, there's stuff in this article that I haven't seen anywhere in print.
Incredible job.

Guest

Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » October 1st, 2007, 4:54 pm

Originally posted by Richard Kaufman:
Joe Pecore just added a great post on Paul Harris, and someone else (Doug Peters) has added an enormous entry on Doug Henning.
Um, not to toot my own horn, more along the line of proper credit, but I am the guy who wrote the Henning article.
And for those who are wondering, I have all the source material and will be including it in the next few days. It's my first "Wiki" article and I am having a bit of trouble with all the strange formatting things and all.

Gord

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Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » October 1st, 2007, 5:45 pm

Thanks Gord. My contributions were more structure than content: The Close Up Magic Section should, for example, be cross-linked to the nth degree. Such linking is the "secret sauce" that makes Wikis (potentially) more valuable than books.

I won't be offended if anyone decides it should be done differently -- but I thought I'd give wiki-newbs a hint as to how "it could be done". For example, there are at least four ways to get to Secrets of Brother John .

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Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Richard Kaufman » October 1st, 2007, 6:18 pm

Ah, thanks for the clarifications from everyone.

My only guide as to who wrote what is to look at the various Recent Changes and Revisions sections and attempt to sort out who's writing what.

I have to say I'm very very pleased with such a promising start.

erlandish: Full descriptions of tricks shouldn't be included in MagicPedia. For example, I wouldn't post a written explanation of an entire Ambitious Card routine--HOWEVER, I might make a video of a performance of the routine and embed that via a service like YouTube. And I might write about the effect of Ambitious Card, its origins, important innovations, etc. That said, a MagicPedia MUST include talk about methodology in entries in order to be precise in the improvements and variations people have made. This is not a resource for laymen, but a detailed and educational resource for magicians and people interested in magic.

As for protential exposure to laymen, it's not something I'm concerned with here. The entry on "Double Lift" will, by necessity, explain what the sleight accomplishes without explaining specific technique. It has to, otherwise it has no value.

castawaydave: Extended quotes are allowed to be posted under the doctrine of "Fair Use." You cannot, however, reprinted entire written pieces (such as an entire review of a product). For example, if someone were to create an entry for the movie "The Illusionist," and post Roger Ebert's entire review in the entry, that would be a violation of copyright. You can quote a few paragraphs from the review, but you cannot copy and paste the entire thing. And there is NO need to do so: just put a link to the review on Ebert's own website.

Doug Peters: Thanks for doing so much structural work!
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Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » October 1st, 2007, 6:55 pm

Originally posted by Doug Peters:
Thanks Gord. My contributions were more structure than content: The Close Up Magic Section should, for example, be cross-linked to the nth degree. Such linking is the "secret sauce" that makes Wikis (potentially) more valuable than books.

Doug
Thank you for your contributions. It's good that someone knows how to do these things and are willing to do it.
Quite frankly this whole "Wiki" thing frightens and confuses me.

Gord

Guest

Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » October 1st, 2007, 8:41 pm

Originally posted by Richard Kaufman:
... castawaydave: Extended quotes are allowed to be posted under the doctrine of "Fair Use." ...
As a publisher, Richard likely knows more about the application of the fair use doctrine than I do. But I suspect that it's not always safe for one to include extended quotes from a copyrighted work and think that he/she is covered by the doctrine. The doctrine of fair use has very few bright lines to it, alas, and whether or not a person's use of copyrighted text is protected by this doctrine is very situation-specific. I believe it is quite possible for one to run afoul of copyright laws even if "only" extended quotes are used.

Just based on my understanding of the doctrine, which I had to study a bit in connection with my HGCR series.

All that said, I hope this project is a success and hope to particpate in it. Thanks for getting it rolling, Richard and Brad.

CHS

Guest

Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » October 1st, 2007, 10:34 pm

How about a MagicPedia subsection devoted to comedy magic?

Guest

Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » October 2nd, 2007, 6:04 am

In principle, Wiki "features" like subsections and categories are "broken" -- the Wiki should define its own structure. Feel free to create a "Comedy Magic" section, linked from "Stand-Up" "Close-Up" and "Stage", and see how it develops...

Guest

Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » October 2nd, 2007, 7:08 am

Well this took some wind out of my sails this morning. I have been working on something like this, albeit strictly coin magic, for some months now.

The release got delayed by a web host losing all my info and having to sign up a new one and start all over.

I still think my set-up will be invaluable to the coin student, so I'm going to trudge on and I hope MagicPedia catches on as well.

It is a great idea. The one thing that worries me, is that it's open to the general public. Any exposure site can link to it. Couldn't you make it for Genii members only? Having a code associated with your subscription? It would be another selling point for Genii and would keep exposure down.

Guest

Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » October 2nd, 2007, 7:35 am

Just for clarity sake, the reason it's taking so long for mine to go live is that I'm personally entering in all the info and want the majority of the info entered, before it goes live.

It will be free as well, but be kept away from muggle eyes.

Richard, I was the one inquiring about the Johnny Paul Subtlety credit this weekend.

Regardless, I think MagicPedia will be a great resource. It's just another way Richard and Co. do great things for the magic student. I just hope you guys think about the exposure aspect of this.

Guest

Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » October 2nd, 2007, 8:07 am

I like the password idea.

At Francis Menotti's website, to get to certain areas you have to enter a password. I believe the password is as simple as "The last name of the man known as 'The Professor'".

Guest

Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » October 2nd, 2007, 9:58 am

Is there, by chance, someone here who can help me set up proper citations, and can do it in as simple English as possible.
I've just spent the last couple of hours trying the different methods that Wikipedia Help describes and all I was able to figure was that Sanford and Son was a funny show.

Thanks in advance.

Gord

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Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Richard Kaufman » October 2nd, 2007, 10:06 am

There will be no passwords, no business about "muggles," and no nonsense about exposure. Laymen don't give a flying crap about any of this stuff. And if a few become interested, they also become amateur magicians.
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Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Richard Kaufman » October 2nd, 2007, 10:07 am

On a cheerier note, at my inventation Charles Hsu has embedded his videos of Japanese magic on MagicPedia.
Search under "New Magic of Japan."
There is another video embedded, but it's not showing up yet.
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Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » October 2nd, 2007, 10:18 am

I think YouTube has proved you wrong about laypeople's interest in certain aspects of magic. But oh well, it was just a suggestion.

Thanks for the quick reply.

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Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Richard Kaufman » October 2nd, 2007, 11:13 am

MagicPedia is not YouTube--it's not visited by millions of people a day.
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Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » October 2nd, 2007, 11:38 am

That wasn't my point.

Anyone have help for Gord?

Guest

Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » October 2nd, 2007, 11:40 am

Originally posted by Gord Gardiner:
Is there, by chance, someone here who can help me set up proper citations, and can do it in as simple English as possible.
It is possible that the site administrator will need to install a "cite" template for you.

http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Cite/Cite.php

Guest

Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Guest » October 2nd, 2007, 12:34 pm

Originally posted by Doug Peters:
Originally posted by Gord Gardiner:
[b] Is there, by chance, someone here who can help me set up proper citations, and can do it in as simple English as possible.
It is possible that the site administrator will need to install a "cite" template for you.

http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Cite/Cite.php [/b]
I believe that may be the problem as the example given was the way I was attempting to do it.
Thanks Doug.

Gord

Harry Lorayne

Re: MagicPedia is HERE! Brought to you by the folks at Genii

Postby Harry Lorayne » October 2nd, 2007, 12:56 pm

I'm a lousy computer person. Registered in MagicPedia. Listed all my books in the close-up magic section - authors. Saved it. Realized I'd just listed the book titles, not my name. (Does it matter?) Anyway, tried to go back to edit, etd., can't do it. Is it my problem or the sites? HARRY LORAYNE.


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