Simon Pulsifer
Pulsifer in 2011
Born (1981-09-11) September 11, 1981 (age 42)
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Other namesSimonP
OccupationWriter
EmployerNew Democratic Party of Ontario

Simon Edward Pulsifer (born September 11, 1981) is a Canadian contributor to the English-language Wikipedia whose prolific participation made him a "minor media celebrity".[1]

English Wikipedia

Pulsifer became an active contributor to the English Wikipedia on December 10, 2001[2] under the username SimonP, just after hearing about the site from The New York Times Magazine.[3] In 2006, he said he spent over 40 hours a week on the Wikipedia website.[4] He is an administrator,[5] and a former member of Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee.[6]

Pulsifer's productivity at Wikipedia has made him the subject of human interest stories in the local press.[7][8][9] Together with Jimmy Wales he appeared on the On Point show on August 2, 2006.[10] In December 2006, Time's annual "Person of the Year" issue contained a feature about Pulsifer.[11] On February 6, 2011, Wikimedia's Executive Director Sue Gardner presented him with a token of appreciation from the Wikipedia community for being one of their most prolific writers and editors.[12]

Personal life

Pulsifer was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was raised in Ottawa, Ontario.[11][2] He has a brother, Andrew.[13] In June 2000, he graduated from Lisgar Collegiate Institute,[14] and went on to study history at the University of Toronto, Victoria College.[8]

Residing in Toronto (as of 2007), he lived in Ottawa for many years. He has worked for the political campaigns of politicians in both cities—Paul Dewar (Ottawa Centre) and Olivia Chow (Trinity—Spadina)—and was the database manager for 2006 Ottawa mayoral candidate Alex Munter.[15][16]

See also

References

  1. ^ Taylor, Lesley Ciarula (23 November 2009). "Thousands of editors leaving Wikipedia". Toronto Star.
  2. ^ a b "Simon Pulsifer: Canada's Wikipedia Wonder Boy takes his talents to market". Canadian Council on Learning. 20 September 2007. Archived from the original on 1 May 2013. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  3. ^ Amber MacArthur (12 March 2007). "Video: King of Wikipedia". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-27.
  4. ^ Gaudiano, Nicole (February 27, 2006). "Inside the world of Wikipedians, there's drama, politics and love". USA Today. Retrieved 2006-10-04.
  5. ^ List of administrators
  6. ^ Pulsifer, Simon (23 August 2007). "Wikipedia's strength is openness". Ottawa Citizen. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  7. ^ Alexandra Shimo (August 4, 2006). "Prolific Canadian is king of Wikipedia". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. Retrieved 2006-10-04. Copy of full text here [1]
  8. ^ a b Rundle, Lisa (Winter 2006). "Wikipedia Wonderboy". University of Toronto Magazine. Retrieved 2006-10-04.
  9. ^ The Ottawa Citizen August 11, 2005 p. A2 and The Ottawa Citizen December 13, 2005 p. A13
  10. ^ Ashbrook, Tom (August 2006). "Wikipedia: Open Intelligence". WBUR/NPR. Retrieved 2006-10-04.
  11. ^ a b Grossman, Lev (December 16, 2006). "Simon Pulsifer: The Duke of Data". TIME. Archived from the original on February 10, 2007. Retrieved 2007-01-05.
  12. ^ Sue Gardner and Simon Pulsifer (6 February 2011). Sue Gardner comes to Toronto (video). Toronto, Ontario: Wikicommons.
  13. ^ Michalowitz, Stephen (5 January 2010). "Streetcar Warrior". Torontoist. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
  14. ^ "Lisgar's Wikipedian" (PDF). Alere Flammam. 2011. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  15. ^ Bray, Richard (2007-01-18). "The Disciple and the prophet". The Ottawa Citizen. Archived from the original on 2008-01-29. Retrieved 2007-01-18.
  16. ^ Gulli, Cathy (August 15, 2006). "Meet Mr. Know-it-all: Simon Pulsifer". Maclean's. Archived from the original on March 20, 2012. Retrieved 2006-10-04.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Simon Pulsifer.
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