[WikiEN-l] Project proposal

[flogan1 at swarthmore.edu]

Hello list! I'm new to the list, so perhaps a short intro is in order. My   
name is Finlay and I am known to WP as Cantara. I've been a Wikipedian since  
sometime in 2004, but have only become really active in the last few months.  
I joined the list at the suggestion of CComMack, who thought that an idea I  
had (see below) might want input from people knowledgeably about policy and  
so forth.  
  
My idea is this. We all know that Wikipedia is great and all, repository of  
the world's information, &c. However, there are people who disagree, who  
think that Wikipedia is inaccurate because it is written by people who are  
not experts and because it lacks oversight (or whatever it is they're saying  
now). When considering these two things together, I realized that there is a  
kind of information that Wikipedia seriously lacks, and that is  
bibliographies. If you've written a research paper lately (I'm writing two at  
the moment, myself) you know that the list of books that the author has read  
is just as valuable as whatever the book itself is about. However,  
Wikipedians don't really make an effort to include "further reading" as part  
of the entry, beyond what they list as citations.  
  
I wanted to start a project to focus on getting that store of information  
into Wikipedia, and once I get around to it I'll list it on Proposed  
Projects. However, as mentioned about, a fellow editor suggested that a  
project like this might have repurcussions in other areas (and I hope he  
responds to explain what they were - something about the manual of style?).   
  
Discuss, then, and if you'd like to help, I'll have information up somewhere  
on my userpage fairly soon.  
  
Yours,  
Cantara