Sunday, May 31, 2009

I Can Has Wikipedia?

So, yesterday I found out that I have my own entry on Wikipedia. I don't know when this happened, or who might have instigated it, but apparently it's been up for a few months (perhaps around March?). As I understand it, you're not supposed to mess with yr own wikipedia entry, so I'll just make a few observations.

Most of what's there relates to either my work on roleplaying games (esp. D&D) or my Tolkien scholarship. I like the opening line, which states that I was born (leaving it a mystery when or where). At the bottom it gives the three categories to which my page belongs: "Dungeons & Dragons game designers", "Living People", and "Tolkien Studies". I'm particularly grateful for the middle one.

Clicking on that final category, by the way, reveals that there are forty-four entries that belong to it, and that I'm one of thirteen people so far with an entry. I give the whole list of entries below: in its inclusions and omissions, a good example of the way wikipedia grows; I'm sure that by this time next year a lot of the missing names will be better represented.** In the meantime, it's both a 'huh?' and a 'wow' moment to discover that there's now a page about me out there. Who knew?

--John R.


THE LIST (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Tolkien_studies):

* Tolkien research

A

* A Guide to Middle-earth
* Douglas A. Anderson
* The Atlas of Middle-earth

B

* Beowulf and the Critics
* Richard E. Blackwelder

C

* The Company They Keep: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien as Writers in Community
* The Complete Guide to Middle-earth

D

* David Day (Canadian writer)
* Michael D. C. Drout

E

* J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia
* Epic Pooh

F

* Verlyn Flieger
* Karen Wynn Fonstad


G

* Peter Gilliver
* Diana Pavlac Glyer

H

* Wayne Hammond
* The History of Middle-earth
* The History of The Hobbit

I

* The Individuated Hobbit

J

* J. R. R. Tolkien Collection
* The J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide
* J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography
* J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator
* J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century
* Journeys of Frodo

L

* The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien
* The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion

M

* Mallorn (journal)
* Marquette University Special Collections and University Archives
* Middle-earth canon
* Mythlore
* Mythopoeia (genre)
* Mythopoeic Awards

R

* John D. Rateliff

S

* Christina Scull
* Tom Shippey
* Martin Simonson

T

* Tolkien Studies
* Tolkien's Legendarium
* Tolkien's Ring
* Tolkien's legendarium
* Tolkien: A Look Behind "The Lord of the Rings"

W

* Walking Tree Publishers




..............
**Some names that should be on the list do have their own wikipedia pages and simply aren't tagged as belonging to this category, like Diana Pavlac Glyer and Humphrey Carpenter.

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