This week, Jacki and Lyle are joined by the brilliant Bill Beutler! Bill is a PR consultant who has figured out how brands can update their own Wikipedia pages successfully (and stay out of trouble while doing it!) Bill is also the president of Beutler Ink, which has worked with Fortune 50 companies, Ivy League Universities, Members of Congress, and has built a whole digital agency with Wikipedia consulting as its core service. In an episode that leaves Lyle in particular absolutely mesmerised at the complexities of posting and editing on Wikipedia, Bill tells us a little about his career so far and how he came to found Beutler Ink and become an industry leader in Wikipedia consultancy. Jacki discusses her own history with Wikipedia and how she has on several occasions bowed to other people's better knowledge when asked to edit certain clients' Wikipedia pages! Jacki also asks what actors such as Lyle would need to do to establish their own Wikipedia page, with Bill taking the duo through the many rules, regulations and pitfalls that some professionals fall foul of when looking to post on Wikipedia. Bill also discusses some of the recent controversies involving Wikipedia, including how a city councillor and mayoral candidate in Portland, Oregon who, despite doing everything systematically above board when it comes to following due process in editing Wikipedia, has been found to have used taxpayer funds to do so resulting in a significant political scandal! Bill also mentions the ongoing legal battle between Wikipedia and India’s largest newswire service Asian News International (ANI), who said a paragraph in its description on Wikipedia falsely accuses it of being 'a propaganda tool for the incumbent [federal] government' and of 'distributing material from fake news websites'. ANI has now demanded the page be taken down and has filed a 20 million rupee suit against Wikipedia, with the story set to run and run! Lyle and Jacki don't quite have time to ask Bill about the impact of AI on Wikipedia, but he will definitely be appearing on an episode near you again very soon!

Head to www.beutlerink.com for more info on the brilliant work Bill and the team are getting up to!

Artwork & music by Lyle Fulton

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