Talk:List of famous Minnesotans

Wikipedia:Cleanup Taskforce/Members/Members by interest

Taming the List

• I will be categorizing all of the individuals listed. Once done, lets work on getting articles created for everyone! Rob110178 00:23, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Re*Cycling RO/CS Lessons Learned

... Nice work!

Also see ... Peer mentoring role models:
Collaborative leadership learning framework for ALL-WinWin community-building.
Conserving social capital by using story-telling about common (not always shared) experiences.
See also: List_of_famous_Minnesotans#Explorers_and_innovators
RJBurkhart 10:28, 13 January 2006 (UTC)

Robert Putnam - Co-author of Bowling Alone and Better Together identified Minnesota plus Nebraska, North Dakota and Vermont as regions where measurable results of social capital conservancy are in the top ten (10) percent of all states. Why?

• Better Together, an initiative of the Saguaro Seminar

RJBurkhart 15:15, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

Eliminating "red links" may soon be adopted as a Generators (General Mills & Pillsbury retiree group) and Minnesota Futurists collaboratory ...

• Earl C. Joseph, Sr. co-founder Minnesota Futurists Chapter of World Future Society

Note: This listing launched with a focus on sports "heroes" rather than "folks" who make sustainable community stewardship contributions.

Also see:
CDC 1604 & List of famous United States Naval Academy alumni ...

Talk:List of famous people from Hawaii (and Minnesota) like Harlan Cleveland (DIKW) [1]
Perhaps qualifications for inclusion are a global citizen's persistent measurable UNEP mentorship impacts as a Bioneer EarthSea-Keeper?

Mahalo for following feedback suggestions and support for crafting a benchmark to beat!
RJBurkhart 14:16, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Fame

Some of these entries seem to stretch the definition of "fame". A couple of hundred Google hits does not indicate fame. Being deserving of fame does not indicate fame. -Will Beback 04:25, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

In what universe is

• Louise Watson, ALL-WinWin environmental educator (Ramsey-Washington County MWD)

famous? Yes, good school teachers should be celebrities, but they aren't. -Will Beback 20:36, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

The whole list seems to have been donated (or borrowed?) from some "unsung hometown heroes" kind of thing. To make it fit Wikipedia's style and conventions it needs a fair bit of rewrite and some pruning. I'm sure Louise Watson is a lovely lady, but I agree we should drop her from the list, along with anyone else we aren't likely to write an article for. Jonathunder 21:07, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

• I agree that any red link should be removed. And is there a convention for inclusion concerning birth in MN/ living in MN, or whatever? For instance, George A. Hormel was born in Ohio and moved to MN when he was in his mid 20s. Should that count or not? Also, tackling the verifiablity issue here is pretty daunting - - I know I don't really feel like looking up info for every one of these people. I have an almanac that lists famous people from MN and I suggest that we start making lists of people (on the talk page) that can be verified by each source. What say you? Good starting point?--Hraefen 21:45, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

Hmm. Not really sure how similar lists do it, but I think these could be reasonable inclusion criteria:

1) The person is widely considered in outside, verifiable sources to be associated with Minnesota, even if born somewhere else (like Hormel) or moved somewhere else (like Dylan).

2) The person is famous enough to deserve an article (i.e., notable enough that an article on them would not likely go to AfD), even if the link is red right now. (I think this list was contributed partly as a project to generate articles for Minnesotans who should have one but might not.)

Those are my suggestions, anyway. Jonathunder 23:18, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

• I largely agree. Some of the red links would pass an afd if someone takes the time to write one...but in the meantime it makes the list look kind of sad to have so much redness. Maybe we could put the redlink names on the talk page. That way it still serves as a place to put people potentially deserving of an article without cluttering the current list.--Hraefen 23:31, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

I agree too. -Will Beback 00:41, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Balancing collaborative style with substance

This list may be missing category tags to indicate that it's part of an incubator social network analysis pilot to engage more adult lifelong learners as participants in Wikipedia projects ...

Either "Be aware" or BEWARE! of false consensus effect ...

Also see: Wikipedia talk:Climate change team

I'm sorry, I don't understand this. What are you saying about false consensus? Jonathunder 14:29, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

OK - Then scan guidelines for Talk:Sea level rise. RJBurkhart 15:13, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

The talk page for Sea level rise is quite long and varied. Nothing there immediately appears relevant to me, but then I'm not even sure what question you are raising. Be more specific, please. Jonathunder 18:56, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

Willaim C. Norris Circles of Influence (MentorshipART)

Social activist references

Figure 2: (p. 47) of portrait book shows graphic example of technical company formations and spinnoffs originating with Engineering Research Associates (ERA) during 1946. Cited as its primary source was the Milwaukee Journal, 7 October 1980.

• William C. Norris Portait of a Maverick ISBN 0-88730-087-1 (1987)
• Charles Babbage Institute: (3) Oral history interview records

RJBurkhart 18:00, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

Which is it?

So nobody is famous except (1) authors, (2) pundits, (3) sports figures? Michael Hardy 23:32, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Proposed page merge

I am proposing that List of famous Minnesotans be merged into List of people from Minnesota. The reasons for this:

• Compare Wikipedia searches for list of famous and list of people from and you will see that the latter is preferred when referencing people of a given region, especially other states. Consistency is important.
• A list of people is less restrictive than a list of famous so there will be less question about who may and may not be included on the page. Any Minnesotan notable enough to be included in Wikipedia is notable enough to be included in List of people from Minnesota. Generally, only celebrities, politicians, and important historical figures are truly "famous", and I don't think others should be excluded based on that.
• International readers are less likely to be familiar with the term Minnesotans may not instantly recognize that these are people from Minnesota. With the title "people from Minnesota", it's unmistakable. Even if they've never heard of Minnesota, they can tell that we're talking about people all from the same place.

I concur with this suggestion supported by rational reasoning. 10:28, 8 September 2006 (UTC)