ad:tech SF: Jimmy 'Jimmidee' Wales, Post Keynote

Shortly after his keynote at ad:tech San Francisco -- and David Spark's timely pre-talk grab -- founder Jimmy Wales of Wikipedia sat down with me to talk shop.

Expect to hear his dish on where consumer generated media is now and why brands should dive in (as well as where). We also talked about what-in-hell happened with Wikia, why branding's underrated, and what keeps Wikipedia afloat. (It ain't advertising.)

I tossed one last question in to finish off my videocam juice: childhood nickname. His was Jimmidee.

Mine was Pukang. Don't ask.

Don't Wiki Too Zealously, Cyveillance Sees All

Cyveilliance normally trawls the Internet for data on behalf of clients seeking open source information in advance of a corporate acquisition, an important executive hire, or brand awareness. For example, an executive updating his Wikipedia page or resume on Monster.com may be an indication of that person's plans to change jobs, or even that the company is in financial trouble.

Heavy Wikipedia action on Sarah Palin's bio page yesterday. That's what you call "sculpting a WINNAR."

Oh, But We ARE Alarmed

Wikipedia isn't digging Modernista's siteless redesign. In fact, it's playing saboteur. (Ironic.)

Here's the story (gleaned from Adrants so I don't have to repeat myself):

For its latest site redesign, Modernista did away with elaborate imagery, hype-laced content and the notion of using a website at all.

Now users that run a search for Modernista -- and that click on the link to Modernista.com -- will be redirected to the search engine they used. In the upper left-hand corner they'll find a funky red nav bar.

Clicking on "ab.ou.t" will give you the option of bookmarking Modernista and visiting the agency's page on Wikipedia or Facebook. "wrk" drives users to flickr images of Modernista's client efforts, organized by client, category or medium. "n3wz" sends you to recent Google News stories about Modernista, and "cont@ct" will give you USA/global contact info to copy onto a clipboard, as well as a link to job and internship options.

Direct visits to Modernista.com now point to the Wikipedia article.

Okay. All that happened yesterday. Early today, Wikipedia tore down its listing for Modernista. Hours later, the Wikipedia results for Modernista (and thus, visits straight to Modernista.com) point to Los Sieste Modernista, a Mexican band.

The Modernista nav bar continues to hang pathetically -- but bravely -- above the article, assuring users: "Don't be alarmed, you are at the Modernista! site."

You'd think a crowdsourced encyclopedia would've have been the first to applaud the agency's attempt to surrender to the zeitgeist, warts and all. But noooo. Then again, you asked for it, Modernista. This is part of taking the good out there with the bad (and exposing potential clients to all of it).