I didn't see the showcase but I'm intrigued by Ziko's comments. The
general response I would make to his question "What do Wikipedia readers
want?" is that different readers want different things, sometimes in
conflict with one another. To elaborate on two of Ziko's points:
"Regionally important content." This reminded me of a Signpost editorial
some years ago discussing a then-recent Arbcom debate concerning how the
city Jerusalem is described in the opening section of several different
language Wikipedias. As you can imagine, not only was there strong
variance but it seemed that some of the versions were making unstated
points that, if not political, were trying to convey stability of
definition without alluding to any controversies. Admittedly Jerusalem is
an extreme example, but I would think there would be any number of
geographic or even topical ideas which certain languages would want to
convey certain meanings and issues of which other languages might be
unaware.
"Large or small articles." I've noticed this point of contention at the
outset of my Wikipedia editing. There are some editors (and presumably
readers) who want Wikipedia to look and function like a traditional
encyclopedia, with thorough articles reflecting well-written and thoughtful
essays that one used to find in encyclopedias. Those who know anything
about web design know that a long essay goes against the design ethos of
the web where some advise against webpages that require excessive scrolling.
The bottom line is that I don't think one can or should make a definitive
rule regarding these issues because different communities will want
different attributes and styles. To be sure, editors/readers should be
aware that such options exist and that Wikipedia style varies considerably
from article to article (and community to community).
Bob
(user:kosboot)
On Thu, Dec 13, 2018 at 5:02 AM Ziko van Dijk <zvandijk(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Hello,
I just watched the showcase of December 2018, thank you for the interesting
contribution! It would be great it further research could have a look at
questions such as language choice.
With regard to have more insight in what readers want, I struggled in the
past with two questions:
Regionally important content: Should a Wikipedia language version
concentrate on regional topics, or try to cover a large variety of topics?
Heinz Kloss in the 1970s introduced the idea of "eigenbezogene Inhalte",
content, that is closely related to a language and its region, like local
history, culture and typical crafts such as fishing on the Faroe islands or
farming in the Alps. What do the readers in Hungary want? That hu.WP
concentrates on Hungarian topics, while they consult English wikipedia for
specialized technical topics or other countries?
Large or small articles: Some printed encyclopedias had relatively few, but
large articles. Others segmented the content into many small articles.
(Think of Encyclopedia Britannica: Macropedia and Micropedia.) What do
Wikipedia readers want? Do they prefer to read about a larger topic in one
long, well structured article? Or several short ones, linking to each
other?
I could imagine that a reader who is interested in information for work or
school prefers long articles that provide an in-depth approach in order to
became familiar with the overall topic (that is, what one would expect
traditionally). And that "news" readers want to look up something quickly,
in a short, simplyfing article.
Kind regards
Ziko
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