🕑 58 minutes It's the holiday special! Special guests, a musical performance (all from the MediaWiki world), and a tale of a life-changing encounter.

<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 8pt; color: #34495e;"&gt;&lt;img style= "padding: 5px; float: right;" src= "https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/show/115190/picassoesque-winter-small.png" alt="" width="200" height="200" /&gt;🕑 58 minutes&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;It's the holiday special! Special guests, a musical performance (all from the MediaWiki world), and a tale of a life-changing encounter.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Episode 197: Between the Brackets 2025 Holiday Special

🕑 1 hour 37 minutes Stephen Harrison is a tech lawyer and journalist who has been writing about Wikipedia since 2018, including for Slate and The New York Times. He joins us to talk about all the Wikimedia-related events of the crazy month of October 2025, including the release of Jimmy Wales' book, Larry Sanger's "nine theses", some near-violence in New York City, and the launch of the site Grokipedia. Links for some of the topics discussed: <ul> <li><a href="https://larrysanger.org/nine-theses/">Nine Theses on Wikipedia</a> by Larry Sanger</li> <li><a href= "https://www.thewikipedian.net/p/2025-wikimedia-board-election-controversy"> "October Surprise: The 2025 Wikimedia Elections Fall into a Transparency Trap"</a> (The Wikipedian blog post)</li> <li><a href= "https://wikiconference.org/wiki/2025/Main_Page">WikiConference North America</a></li> <li><a href= "https://slate.com/technology/2025/10/wikipedia-editors-conference-gunman-culture-war.html?pay=1764715230833&support_journalism=please"> "Why Editing Wikipedia Is Becoming More Dangerous"</a> (Slate article by Stephen Harrison, October 2025)</li> <li><a href="https://grokipedia.com/">Grokipedia</a></li> <li>Yaron's <a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7394058324842913792/"> LinkedIn post</a> about Grokipedia</li> <li><a href= "https://sites.prh.com/the-seven-rules-of-trust">The Seven Rules of Trust</a> by Jimmy Wales</li> <li><a href= "https://nypost.com/2025/11/03/business/wikipedia-co-founder-blocks-editing-of-gaza-genocide-page-over-egregious-anti-israel-claims/"> "Wikipedia co-founder slams 'Gaza genocide' page over 'egregious' anti-Israel claims"</a> (New York Post article, November 2025)</li> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uswRbWyt_pg">Jimmy Wales interview on Jung & Naiv podcast</a>, November 2025</li> </ul>

<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 8pt; color: #34495e;"&gt;&lt;img style= "padding: 5px; float: right;" src= "https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/show/115190/Stephen-Harrison-BTB.png" alt="Stephen Harrison" width="140" height="140" /&gt;🕑 1 hour 37 minutes&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Stephen Harrison is a tech lawyer and journalist who has been writing about Wikipedia since 2018, including for &lt;em&gt;Slate&lt;/em&gt; and The New York Times. He joins us to talk about all the Wikimedia-related events of the crazy month of October 2025, including the release of Jimmy Wales' book, Larry Sanger's "nine theses", some near-violence in New York City, and the launch of the site Grokipedia.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Links for some of the topics discussed:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://larrysanger.org/nine-theses/"&gt;Nine Theses on Wikipedia&lt;/a&gt; by Larry Sanger&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://www.thewikipedian.net/p/2025-wikimedia-board-election-controversy"&gt; "October Surprise: The 2025 Wikimedia Elections Fall into a Transparency Trap"&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;The Wikipedian&lt;/em&gt; blog post)&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://wikiconference.org/wiki/2025/Main_Page"&gt;WikiConference North America&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://slate.com/technology/2025/10/wikipedia-editors-conference-gunman-culture-war.html?pay=1764715230833&amp;support_journalism=please"&gt; "Why Editing Wikipedia Is Becoming More Dangerous"&lt;/a&gt; (&lt;em&gt;Slate&lt;/em&gt; article by Stephen Harrison, October 2025)&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://grokipedia.com/"&gt;Grokipedia&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;Yaron's &lt;a href= "https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7394058324842913792/"&gt; LinkedIn post&lt;/a&gt; about Grokipedia&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://sites.prh.com/the-seven-rules-of-trust"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The Seven Rules of Trust&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt; by Jimmy Wales&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://nypost.com/2025/11/03/business/wikipedia-co-founder-blocks-editing-of-gaza-genocide-page-over-egregious-anti-israel-claims/"&gt; "Wikipedia co-founder slams 'Gaza genocide' page over 'egregious' anti-Israel claims"&lt;/a&gt; (New York Post article, November 2025)&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uswRbWyt_pg"&gt;Jimmy Wales interview on &lt;em&gt;Jung &amp; Naiv&lt;/em&gt; podcast&lt;/a&gt;, November 2025&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt;</description>

Episode 196: Stephen Harrison

🕑 28 minutes Clips from five recent episodes! Dan Andreescu considers a new "Datawiki" project, Wojciech Pędzich makes use of the Wikipedia sound logo, Thomas Chin retells a piece of Wikimedia development lore, SJ Klein contemplates the use of "Abstractese", Matt Latourelle explains Ballotpedia's neutrality, and more!

<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 8pt; color: #34495e;"&gt;&lt;img style= "padding: 5px; float: right;" src= "https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/show/115190/BTB-digest.png" alt= "BTB Digest" width="90" height="79" /&gt;🕑 28 minutes&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Clips from five recent episodes! Dan Andreescu considers a new "Datawiki" project, Wojciech Pędzich makes use of the Wikipedia sound logo, Thomas Chin retells a piece of Wikimedia development lore, SJ Klein contemplates the use of "Abstractese", Matt Latourelle explains Ballotpedia's neutrality, and more!&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Episode 195: BTB Digest 31

🕑 1 hour 57 minutes Vera de Kok is a freelance photographer, developer and wiki consultant who was named Media Contributor of the Year at the 2025 Wikimania conference for her contributions to both Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata. Links for some of the topics discussed: <ul> <li><a href= "https://www.veradekok.nl/en/2025/09/vera-is-media-contributor-of-the-year/"> "I'm Wikipedia's "Media Contributor of the Year"!"</a> (September 2025 blog post by Vera)</li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View_of_Delft">View of Delft</a> (Vermeer painting)</li> <li><a href="https://orator-matcher.toolforge.org/">Orator Matcher</a> tool</li> <li><a href="https://new-q5.toolforge.org/">New Q5</a> tool</li> <li><a href= "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:VisualFileChange.js">VisualFileChange</a> Wikimedia Commons gadget</li> <li><a href= "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Tools/Enhance_user_interface/en#identifierInput.js"> identifierInput.js</a> Wikidata gadget</li> <li><a href="https://www.wikiportraits.org/">WikiPortraits</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youp_van_%27t_Hek">Youp van 't Hek</a> Wikipedia article</li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prem_Radhakishun">Prem Radhakishun</a> Wikipedia article</li> <li><a href= "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Autistic_editors">"Autistic editors"</a> essay on Wikipedia</li> <li><a href= "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Netherlands_Student_Association"> Greater Netherlands Student Association</a> Wikipedia article</li> <li><a href= "https://www.autisticculturepodcast.com/p/autistic-podcast-wikipedia-is-autistic"> "Wikipedia is Autistic"</a> episode of Autistic Culture podcast</li> <li><a href= "https://diff.wikimedia.org/2024/12/07/the-impact-of-the-wikipedia-editing-course-for-autistic-people/"> "The Impact of the Wikipedia Editing Course for Autistic People"</a> (December 2024 Diff blog post)</li> <li><a href= "https://diff.wikimedia.org/2025/09/09/playing-for-the-german-team-a-neurodiverse-wikimedians-journey-to-nairobi-or-brigadoon/"> "Playing for the 'German Team' – A Neurodiverse Wikimedian's Journey to Nairobi, or Brigadoon"</a> (September 2025 Diff blog post)</li> <li><a href= "https://birchbaywa.org/birch-bay-polar-bear-plunge/">Birch Bay, WA Polar Bear Plunge</a></li> <li><a href= "ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Voice_intro_project">Wikipedia voice intro project</a> <ul> <li><a href= "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Cousins_(filmmaker)">Mark Cousins</a> Wikipedia article</li> <li><a href= "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikko_Hypp%C3%B6nen">Mikko Hyppönen</a> Wikipedia article</li> </ul> </li> <li><a href= "https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doktershuis_(Landsmeer)">Doktershuis (Landsmeer)</a> Wikipedia article (won Vera 4th place in a Dutch Wikipedia writing contest)</li> <li><a href= "https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=0805-AAL">Behringer U-phoria UM2</a> (microphone USB interface)</li> <li><a href= "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mika,_Benji_and_SJ_during_blackout_at_Wikimania_2025.jpg"> Photo taken during temporary blackout at Wikimania 2025</a></li> <li><a href= "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Hackathon_2025_-_day_3_-_001.jpg"> Photo taken during 2025 Wikimedia Hackathon</a></li> <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_asthma">Feline asthma</a> Wikipedia article</li> <li><a href= "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wie_komt_er_alle_jaren.flac"> "Wie komt er alle jaren"</a> on Wikimedia Commons</li> </ul>

<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 8pt; color: #34495e;"&gt;&lt;img style= "padding: 5px; float: right;" src= "https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/show/115190/Vera-de-Kok-BTB.png" alt="Vera de Kok" width="140" height="140" /&gt;🕑 1 hour 57 minutes&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Vera de Kok is a freelance photographer, developer and wiki consultant who was named Media Contributor of the Year at the 2025 Wikimania conference for her contributions to both Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Links for some of the topics discussed:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://www.veradekok.nl/en/2025/09/vera-is-media-contributor-of-the-year/"&gt; "I'm Wikipedia's "Media Contributor of the Year"!"&lt;/a&gt; (September 2025 blog post by Vera)&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View_of_Delft"&gt;View of Delft&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt; (Vermeer painting)&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://orator-matcher.toolforge.org/"&gt;Orator Matcher&lt;/a&gt; tool&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://new-q5.toolforge.org/"&gt;New Q5&lt;/a&gt; tool&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:VisualFileChange.js"&gt;VisualFileChange&lt;/a&gt; Wikimedia Commons gadget&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Tools/Enhance_user_interface/en#identifierInput.js"&gt; identifierInput.js&lt;/a&gt; Wikidata gadget&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.wikiportraits.org/"&gt;WikiPortraits&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youp_van_%27t_Hek"&gt;Youp van 't Hek&lt;/a&gt; Wikipedia article&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prem_Radhakishun"&gt;Prem Radhakishun&lt;/a&gt; Wikipedia article&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Autistic_editors"&gt;"Autistic editors"&lt;/a&gt; essay on Wikipedia&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Netherlands_Student_Association"&gt; Greater Netherlands Student Association&lt;/a&gt; Wikipedia article&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://www.autisticculturepodcast.com/p/autistic-podcast-wikipedia-is-autistic"&gt; "Wikipedia is Autistic"&lt;/a&gt; episode of &lt;em&gt;Autistic Culture&lt;/em&gt; podcast&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://diff.wikimedia.org/2024/12/07/the-impact-of-the-wikipedia-editing-course-for-autistic-people/"&gt; "The Impact of the Wikipedia Editing Course for Autistic People"&lt;/a&gt; (December 2024 &lt;em&gt;Diff&lt;/em&gt; blog post)&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://diff.wikimedia.org/2025/09/09/playing-for-the-german-team-a-neurodiverse-wikimedians-journey-to-nairobi-or-brigadoon/"&gt; "Playing for the 'German Team' – A Neurodiverse Wikimedian's Journey to Nairobi, or Brigadoon"&lt;/a&gt; (September 2025 &lt;em&gt;Diff&lt;/em&gt; blog post)&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://birchbaywa.org/birch-bay-polar-bear-plunge/"&gt;Birch Bay, WA Polar Bear Plunge&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Voice_intro_project"&gt;Wikipedia voice intro project&lt;/a&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Cousins_(filmmaker)"&gt;Mark Cousins&lt;/a&gt; Wikipedia article&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikko_Hypp%C3%B6nen"&gt;Mikko Hyppönen&lt;/a&gt; Wikipedia article&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt; &lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doktershuis_(Landsmeer)"&gt;Doktershuis (Landsmeer)&lt;/a&gt; Wikipedia article (won Vera 4th place in a Dutch Wikipedia writing contest)&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=0805-AAL"&gt;Behringer U-phoria UM2&lt;/a&gt; (microphone USB interface)&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mika,_Benji_and_SJ_during_blackout_at_Wikimania_2025.jpg"&gt; Photo taken during temporary blackout at Wikimania 2025&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wikimedia_Hackathon_2025_-_day_3_-_001.jpg"&gt; Photo taken during 2025 Wikimedia Hackathon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_asthma"&gt;Feline asthma&lt;/a&gt; Wikipedia article&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wie_komt_er_alle_jaren.flac"&gt; "Wie komt er alle jaren"&lt;/a&gt; on Wikimedia Commons&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt;</description>

Episode 194: Vera de Kok

🕑 1 hour 17 minutes Cormac Parle is a principal software engineer in the Product & Tech team at the Wikimedia Foundation. Links for some of the topics discussed: <ul> <li><a href= "https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Tech">Wikimedia Foundation Community Tech team</a></li> <li><a href= "https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Readers/Structured_Content">Wikimedia Foundation Structured Content team</a></li> <li><a href= "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Structured_data">Structured Data on Wikimedia Commons</a></li> <li><a href= "https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2liJl6hwgsmUAh7XrhAIlk">Stoat playlist</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4ZnfCmTJMY">"Why you should give up on your dreams"</a> (2021 talk by Cormac)</li> </ul>

<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 8pt; color: #34495e;"&gt;&lt;img style= "padding: 5px; float: right;" src= "https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/show/115190/Cormac-Parle-BTB.png" alt="Cormac Parle" width="140" height="140" /&gt;🕑 1 hour 17 minutes&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Cormac Parle is a principal software engineer in the Product &amp; Tech team at the Wikimedia Foundation.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Links for some of the topics discussed:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;ul&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Tech"&gt;Wikimedia Foundation Community Tech team&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Readers/Structured_Content"&gt;Wikimedia Foundation Structured Content team&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Structured_data"&gt;Structured Data on Wikimedia Commons&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href= "https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2liJl6hwgsmUAh7XrhAIlk"&gt;Stoat playlist&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt; &lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4ZnfCmTJMY"&gt;"Why you should give up on your dreams"&lt;/a&gt; (2021 talk by Cormac)&lt;/li&gt; &lt;/ul&gt;</description>

Episode 193: Cormac Parle

A podcast about the people and ideas behind the MediaWiki software. Interviews with developers and users of MediaWiki, both for Wikimedia sites (Wikipedia, Wikidata, etc.) and the many uses of MediaWiki in companies, organizations, government agencies, etc.

Between the Brackets: a MediaWiki Podcast

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