Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Hipocrite (talk | contribs) at 20:41, 23 October 2009 (Undid revision 321636253 by Chuthya (talk) Per BLP. Avoid using wikipedia to disparage the subject.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Template:Rescue

David Shankbone
Shankbone in 2006
Born	David Miller 1974 (age 50–51)
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Colorado, Fordham Law School
Occupation(s)	writer, photographer
Website	http://blog.Shankbone.org

David Shankbone is the pseudonym used by American writer, blogger, and photographer David Miller (b. 1974) on various Wikimedia projects and his blog. He has has been described as a citizen journalist for his interviews and photographs of high profile individuals, article writing and editing. His photographs have been published in various publications, and his work and career profiled in the media.

Background

Shankbone has lived in 17 cities, six states, and three countries according to his website. He attended the University of Colorado and Fordham Law School, leaving Fordham one year short of graduation because he had missed some credit-card payments and therefore was not eligible for a loan, a situation he described as traumatic. He continued his law career as a paralegal, and in his spare time began a second career as a citizen journalist. His sister gave him a digital camera for his birthday, and he began taking photographs of New York, which he would upload to Misplaced Pages.

Media work and media coverage

Shankbone began contributing to Misplaced Pages in June 2006, and in 2007 Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post had cited him as a "leading Misplaced Pages editor."

A rationalist, Shankbone was involved in an editorial conflict over content in Misplaced Pages's Santa Claus and whether it should present the subject as an actual historical figure or a mythological one. Taking the latter position, Shankbone argued that Misplaced Pages is "there for knowledge, not for upholding cultural myths." The subject came in a dinner conversation with Yossi Vardi, the founding investor of Mirabilis, who asked, "Who are you to say he is not real? What about God? Can you say that God does not exist?" The Israeli daily newspaper, Haaretz, called Shankbone, "the man who offed Santa."

Shankbone has been critical of the Misplaced Pages Foundation for what he describes as a lack of support for editors who have been cyberstalked.

Interviews

In December 2007, he became the first of the website's citizen journalists to interview a sitting head of state, Israeli President Shimon Peres. Other interview subjects included activist Al Sharpton, writer Augusten Burroughs, journalist Gay Talese, Ingrid Newkirk, and three 2008 U.S. Presidential contenders.

The American actor Billy West called Shankbone the "Barbara Walters of the Internet," after he revealed to Shankbone details about his childhood abuse. Miller also conducted a series of interviews for Wikinews, a website operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, and was profiled in the Columbia Journalism Review in January 2009.

In a 2009 Columbia Journalism Review profile of Shankbone, and described his interviews as being like a "throwback to a time when Oriana Fallaci published long transcripts of her interviews in book form and David Frost broadcast a six-hour sit-down with Richard Nixon.” When Shankbone became the first Wikinews citizen journalist to interview a sitting head of state, it was seen as a milestone in the development of the site.

Photography

Shankbone’s photography is primarily associated with the Creative Commons and Misplaced Pages, where he says his images illustrate over 4,000 articles. Referring to his work as a "documentation of human existence," he has collaborated with professional photographers such as Billy Name, whom he cites as a mentor, Christopher Makos, Peter Palladino, and Keith Green. His photographs have appeared in The New York Times, The Village Voice, The Guardian, Duke University Press, and LA Weekly, as well as in a number of books, and on blogs and websites.

A journalist for the Brooklyn Rail described Shankbone's photographs as "incredibly wide ranging in their scope."He has photographed Madonna and Kanye West, directors Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese, Henry Kissinger and numerous entertainers, authors, models, politicians, lawyers and businessmen.

In 2008, Time Out New York published a comic strip based on Shankbone's photograph of Miss Understood.

His photograph and blog post of former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey doing voluntary work for Exodus Transitional Community, a former prisoner rehabilitative program, was cited by Andrew Sullivan, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and Towleroad.com, as they were the first photographs of the governor’s new life.

Israel

In 2007 Shankbone was invited to Israel by the Foreign Ministry and the America-Israel Friendship League, as part of a delegation of technology writers, including representatives from BusinessWeek, USA Today, PC Week and Salon, to review the Israeli technology sector. David Saranga, spokesman at the consulate in New York explained, "More than once we have faced editors connected to Israel that appear on Misplaced Pages in English that do not represent the reality in Israel. We decided to initiate a visit by Shankbone to describe Israeli reality as it is." While there, he requested an interview with Israeli President Shimon Peres, which to his surprise was granted.

Although not Jewish, Shankbone has said he considers Israel "a second home." He returned there in 2009 to take photographs of the country and the Negev desert. He also photographed hip-hop violinist Miri Ben-Ari. When Israeli rock star Ivri Lider toured the United States, Shankbone photographed him backstage at the Bowery Ballroom.

Blog

In June 2008, he began Shankbone.org, a blog focusing primarily on his photography and politics. He has continued his interviews on the blog, publishing a series where he asks the same five questions to different people, such as Misplaced Pages co-founder Jimmy Wales, Bebe Buell, and Evan Wolfson.

References

1. ^ Liphshiz, Cnaan. Your wiki entry counts, Haaretz, December 25, 2007.
2. ^ About David Shankbone, Shankbone.org.
3. ^ Nobody's Safe in Cyberspace, Brooklyn Rail.
4. ^ Rose, Adam. The Wikinews Ace: Why Shimon Peres Sat Down With David Shankbone, Columbia Journalism Review, January-February 2009; also see here.
5. ^ Shankbone, David. Israel Journal: The Holy Land has an image problem, Wikinews, December 18, 2007.
6. ^ Jones, K.C. Wikinews Gets Big Interview, Information Week, January 14, 2008.
7. Al Sharpton interview; Augusten Burroughs interview; Gay Talese interview; Britannica summary.
8. [http://en.wikinews.org/Billy_West,_voice_of_Ren_and_Stimpy,_Futurama,_on_the_rough_start_that_shaped_his_life Billy West
9. Last Days of Jim Carroll, The New York Times; "Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick," The Guardian, May 12, 2009; see here; Eve Sedgwick biography; Mikulan, Steven. The Dov Boat: Woody Allen & American Apparel Settle for $5M, LA Weekly, May 18, 2009.
10. Asper, Colleen. David Shankbone with Colleen Asper, Brooklyn Rail, April 2008.
11. Ferri, Samuel. I, New York, Time Out New York, February 27-March 4, 2008.
12. Sullivan, Andrew. Jim McGreevey's New Mission, The Atlantic, June 30, 2009; Cohen, Aubrey. Jim McGreevey studying to become priest, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 30, 2009.
13. Kienon, Herb. Leading Misplaced Pages editor to visit Israel, The Jerusalem Post, December 8, 2007.
14. Mintz, Hillel. My Interview with Mr. David Shankbone, Israel Travel and Tours, accessed October 19, 2009.
15. Udasin, Sharon. Photo Editing Israel’s Online Image, The Jewish Week, April 3, 2009.
16. Jimmy Wales five questions;Bebe Buell five questions;Evan Wolfson five questions

External links

• Shankbone.org
• Shankbone's Misplaced Pages user page

• Living people
• American photographers
• American writers