<div><br clear="all"><br>Fantastic article on citation and the written word.......<font color="#006600" size="2">"When Knowledge Isn't Written, Does It Still Count?</font>
<h6 class="byline"><font color="#006600" size="2">That NYT article was wrtitten By </font><a class="meta-per" title="More Articles by Noam Cohen" href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/noam_cohen/index.html?inline=nyt-per" rel="author"><font color="#006600" size="2">NOAM COHEN</font></a></h6>
</div>
<div><font color="#006600"></font> </div>
<div>I almost sent a congratulations to Tinu Cherian for a well written piece!</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I fully support other forms of audio and other visual references and have a few decades worth of material I'd be happy to share when I find the time to index it well and convert it to a digital format.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>Regards</div>
<div><br>Harriet</div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div>See our work at: monsoongreay.wordpress where we use digital stories to record childrens voices.</div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div><br style="COLOR: rgb(51,102,102)"><br style="COLOR: rgb(51,102,102)"><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,102,102)">Harriet Vidyasagar</span><br style="COLOR: rgb(51,102,102)"><br style="COLOR: rgb(51,102,102)"><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,102,102)"><a href="http://www.outofindia.net/" target="_blank">www.outofindia.net</a></span><br style="COLOR: rgb(51,102,102)">
<br style="COLOR: rgb(51,102,102)"><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,102,102)"><a href="http://www.womenofindia.net/" target="_blank">www.womenofindia.net</a></span><br style="COLOR: rgb(51,102,102)"><br style="COLOR: rgb(51,102,102)">
<span style="COLOR: rgb(51,102,102)">INDIA: 91-99011 66276</span><br style="COLOR: rgb(51,102,102)"><br style="COLOR: rgb(51,102,102)"><span style="COLOR: rgb(51,102,102)">USA: 1-301-649-2240</span><br><br><br></div>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 2:31 AM, <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:wikimediaindia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org">wikimediaindia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex" class="gmail_quote">Send Wikimediaindia-l mailing list submissions to<br> <a href="mailto:wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org">wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br>
<br>To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit<br> <a href="https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l" target="_blank">https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l</a><br>
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to<br> <a href="mailto:wikimediaindia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org">wikimediaindia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br><br>You can reach the person managing the list at<br>
<a href="mailto:wikimediaindia-l-owner@lists.wikimedia.org">wikimediaindia-l-owner@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br><br>When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific<br>than "Re: Contents of Wikimediaindia-l digest..."<br>
<br><br>Today's Topics:<br><br> 1. Re: [Press] : New York Times : "When Knowledge Isn?t Written,<br> Does It Still Count?" (Mahitgar from Marathi Wikipedia)<br><br><br>----------------------------------------------------------------------<br>
<br>Message: 1<br>Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 12:01:49 +0530 (IST)<br>From: Mahitgar from Marathi Wikipedia <<a href="mailto:mahitgar@yahoo.co.in">mahitgar@yahoo.co.in</a>><br>Subject: Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Press] : New York Times : "When<br>
Knowledge Isn?t Written, Does It Still Count?"<br>To: <a href="mailto:wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org">wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br>Message-ID: <<a href="mailto:1312871509.19166.YahooMailRC@web137618.mail.in.yahoo.com">1312871509.19166.YahooMailRC@web137618.mail.in.yahoo.com</a>><br>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"<br><br>Dear All<br>NewYork Times : "When Knowledge Isn?t Written, Does It Still Count?"<br><br><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/business/media/a-push-to-redefine-knowledge-at-wikipedia.html" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/business/media/a-push-to-redefine-knowledge-at-wikipedia.html</a><br>
<br><br>This is a nice article.<br><br>1) On mr-wiki I am trying to convince the community to be more flexible on info<br>coming from rural Maharashtra. For an example in an village related articles<br>some one writes about which farm produce which educational institutions are<br>
there, we need not ask reference for such aspects.In rural India as there are<br>good institution which we can take note of but risk part is there are equal or<br>more number of fake institutions and they may end up taking undue benefit of<br>
having mention of their institution in fooling rest of the ignorant population<br>that is the risk.<br><br>2) Way back on strategy wiki I did put a Proposal:Audio/visual Presentation<br>Competition While there I did not get anticipated support but I wish Wikimedia<br>
India Chapter and/Or India program and Indic wikipedians revisit this proposal<br><br><a href="http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proposal:Audio/visual_Presentation_Competition" target="_blank">http://strategy.wikimedia.org/wiki/Proposal:Audio/visual_Presentation_Competition</a><br>
<br><br>Regards<br>User Mahitgar from Marathi Wikipedia<br><br><br><br><br>________________________________<br>From: "<a href="mailto:wikimediaindia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org">wikimediaindia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org</a>"<br>
<<a href="mailto:wikimediaindia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org">wikimediaindia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org</a>><br>To: <a href="mailto:wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org">wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br>
Sent: Tue, 9 August, 2011 6:04:19 AM<br>Subject: Wikimediaindia-l Digest, Vol 38, Issue 13<br><br>Send Wikimediaindia-l mailing list submissions to<br> <a href="mailto:wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org">wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br>
<br>To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit<br> <a href="https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l" target="_blank">https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l</a><br>
or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to<br> <a href="mailto:wikimediaindia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org">wikimediaindia-l-request@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br><br>You can reach the person managing the list at<br>
<a href="mailto:wikimediaindia-l-owner@lists.wikimedia.org">wikimediaindia-l-owner@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br><br>When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific<br>than "Re: Contents of Wikimediaindia-l digest..."<br>
<br><br>Today's Topics:<br><br> 1. Re: [Press] : New York Times : "When Knowledge Isn?t Written,<br> Does It Still Count?" (<a href="mailto:wheredevelsdare@hotmail.com">wheredevelsdare@hotmail.com</a>)<br>
2. Re: [Press] : New York Times : "When Knowledge Isn?t Written,<br> Does It Still Count?" (Naveen Francis)<br><br><br>----------------------------------------------------------------------<br><br>Message: 1<br>
Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 05:00:39 +0000<br>From: <<a href="mailto:wheredevelsdare@hotmail.com">wheredevelsdare@hotmail.com</a>><br>Subject: Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Press] : New York Times : "When<br> Knowledge Isn?t Written, Does It Still Count?"<br>
To: Wikipedia India Mailing List<br> <<a href="mailto:wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org">wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a>><br>Message-ID: <SNT117-W52033416B0BB25ED58A517BD200@phx.gbl><br>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"<br>
<br><br>Sure - offline or non-english refs are accepted AGF!<br><br>From: <a href="mailto:naveenpf@gmail.com">naveenpf@gmail.com</a><br>Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 07:31:47 +0530<br>To: <a href="mailto:wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org">wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br>
Subject: Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Press] : New York Times : "When Knowledge<br>Isn?t Written, Does It Still Count?"<br><br>Nice article ... :)<br><br>Hi Tinu,<br><br>One doubt in referencing; can we keep text indic languages as reference in<br>
English wikipedia ?<br><br><br><br><br> Naveen Francis<br><br><br> Signature powered by<br><br> WiseStamp<br><br> On 8 August 2011 23:13, CherianTinu Abraham <<a href="mailto:tinucherian@gmail.com">tinucherian@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
<br><br><br>NewYork Times : "When Knowledge Isn?t Written, Does It Still Count?"<br><br><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/business/media/a-push-to-redefine-knowledge-at-wikipedia.html" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/business/media/a-push-to-redefine-knowledge-at-wikipedia.html</a><br>
<br><br><br><br><br>?MAKING fun of Wikipedia is so 2007,? a French journalist said recently to Sue<br>Gardner, the executive director of the foundation that runs the Wikipedia<br>project.<br><br><br><br><br>And so Ms. Gardner, in turn, told an auditorium full of Wikipedia contributors<br>
and supporters on Thursday in Haifa, Israel, the host city for the seventh<br>annual Wikimania conference, where meetings and presentations focus on the<br>world?s most used, and perhaps least understood, online reference work.<br>
<br><br><br><br>Once routinely questioned about its reliability ? what do you mean, anyone can<br>edit it? ? the site is now used every month by upwards of 400 million people<br>worldwide. But with influence and respect come responsibility, and lately<br>
Wikipedia has been criticized from without and within for reflecting a Western,<br>male-dominated mindset similar to the perspective behind the encyclopedias it<br>has replaced.<br><br><br><br><br>Seeing Wikipedia as The Man, in so many words, is so 2011.<br>
And that?s a problem for an encyclopedia that wants to grow. Some critics of<br>Wikipedia believe that the whole Western tradition of footnotes and sourced<br>articles needs to be rethought if Wikipedia is going to continue to gather<br>
converts beyond its current borders. And that, in turn, invites an entirely new<br>debate about what constitutes knowledge in different parts of the world and how<br>a Western institution like Wikipedia can capitalize on it.<br>
<br><br><br><br>Achal Prabhala, an adviser to Ms. Gardner?s Wikimedia Foundation who lives and<br>writes in Bangalore, India, has made perhaps the most trenchant criticism in a<br>video project, ?People are Knowledge,? that he presented in Haifa (along with<br>
its clunky subtitle, ?Exploring alternative methods of citation for Wikipedia?).<br><br><br><br><br>The film, which was made largely with a $20,000 grant from the Wikimedia<br>Foundation, spends time showing what has been lost to Wikipedia because of<br>
stickling rules of citation and verification. If Wikipedia purports to collect<br>the ?sum of all human knowledge,? in the words of one of its founders, Jimmy<br>Wales, that, by definition, means more than printed knowledge, Mr. Prabhala<br>
said.<br><br><br><br><br>In the case of dabba kali, a children?s game played in the Kerala state of<br>India, there was a Wikipedia article in the local language, Malayalam, that<br>included photos, a drawing and a detailed description of the rules, but no<br>
sources to back up what was written. Other than, of course, the 40 million<br>people who played it as children.<br><br><br><br><br>There is no doubt, he said, that the article would have been deleted from<br>English Wikipedia if it didn?t have any sources to cite. Those are the rules of<br>
the game, and those are the rules he would like to change, or at least bend, or,<br>if all else fails, work around.<br><br><br><br><br>?There is this desire to grow Wikipedia in parts of the world,? he said, adding<br>that ?if we don?t have a more generous and expansive citation policy, the<br>
current one will prove to be a massive roadblock that you literally can?t get<br>past. There is a very finite amount of citable material, which means a very<br>finite number of articles, and there will be no more.?<br><br>
<br><br><br>Mr. Prabhala, 38, who grew up in India and then attended American universities,<br>has been an activist on issues of intellectual property, starting with the<br>efforts in South Africa to free up drugs that treat H.I.V. In the film, he gives<br>
other examples of subjects ? an alcohol produced in a village, Ga-Sabotlane, in<br>Limpopo, South Africa, and a popular hopscotch-type children?s game,<br>tshere-tshere ? beyond print documentation and therefore beyond Wikipedia?s<br>
true-and-tried method.<br><br><br><br><br>There are whole cultures, he said, that have little to no printed material to<br>cite as proof about the way life is lived.<br>?Publishing is a system of power and I mean that in a completely pleasant,<br>
accepting sense,? he said mischievously. ?But it leaves out people.?<br><br><br><br><br>But Mr. Prabhala offers a solution: he and the video?s directors, Priya Sen and<br>Zen Marie, spoke with people in African and Indian villages either in person or<br>
over the phone and had them describe basic activities. These recordings were<br>then uploaded and linked to the article as sources, and suddenly an article that<br>seems like it could be a personal riff looks a bit more academic.<br>
<br><br><br><br>For example, in his interview with a South African villager who explained how to<br>make the alcoholic drink, morula, she repeatedly says that it is best if she<br>demonstrates the process. When the fruit is ready, said the villager, Philipine<br>
Moremi, according to the project?s transcript of her phone conversation, ?we pry<br>them open. We are going to show you how it is done. Once they are peeled, we<br>seal them to ferment and then we drink.? The idea of treating personal testimony<br>
as a source for Wikipedia is still controversial, and reflects the concerns that<br>dominated the encyclopedia project six years ago, when arguably its very<br>existence was threatened.<br><br><br><br><br>After a series of hoaxes, culminating in a Wikipedia article in 2005 that<br>
maligned the newspaper editor John Seigenthaler for no discernible reason other<br>than because a Wikipedia contributor could, the site tried to ensure that every<br>statement could be traced to a source.<br><br><br><br>
<br>
Then there is the rule ?no original research,? which was meant to say that<br>Wikipedia doesn?t care if you are writing about the subway station you visit<br>every day, find someone who has written reliably on the color of the walls<br>
there.<br><br><br><br><br>?The natural thing is getting more and more accurate, locking down articles,<br>raising the bar on sources,? said Andrew Lih, an associate professor of<br>journalism at the University of Southern California, who was an early<br>
contributor to Wikipedia and has written a history of its rise. ?Isn?t it great<br>we have so many texts online??<br><br><br><br><br>But what works for the most developed societies, he said, won?t necessarily work<br>for others. ?Lots of knowledge is not Googleable,? he said, ?and is not in a<br>
digital form.?<br><br><br><br><br>Mr. Lih said that he could see the Wikipedia project suddenly becoming energized<br>by the process of documenting cultural practices around the world, or down the<br>street.<br><br><br><br>
<br>Perhaps Mr. Prabhala?s most challenging argument is that by being text-focused,<br>and being locked into the Encyclopedia Britannica model, Wikipedia risks being<br>behind the times.<br>An 18-year-old is comfortable using ?objects of trust that have been created on<br>
the Internet,? he said, and ?Wikipedia isn?t taking advantage of that.? And, he<br>added, ?it is quite possible that for the 18-year-old of today that Wikipedia<br>looks like his father?s project. Or the kind of thing his father might be<br>
interested in.?<br><br><br><br><br>Ouch.<br><br><br><br>RegardsTinu Cherian<br><br><br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br><br>Wikimediaindia-l mailing list<br><br><a href="mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org">Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br>
<br><a href="https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l" target="_blank">https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l</a><br><br><br><br><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>
Wikimediaindia-l mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org">Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br><a href="https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l" target="_blank">https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l</a><br>
<br><br>-------------- next part --------------<br>An HTML attachment was scrubbed...<br>URL:<br><a href="http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/attachments/20110809/b0b77e48/attachment-0001.htm" target="_blank">http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/attachments/20110809/b0b77e48/attachment-0001.htm</a><br>
<br><br>------------------------------<br><br>Message: 2<br>Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 10:33:57 +0530<br>From: Naveen Francis <<a href="mailto:naveenpf@gmail.com">naveenpf@gmail.com</a>><br>Subject: Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Press] : New York Times : "When<br>
Knowledge Isn?t Written, Does It Still Count?"<br>To: Wikimedia India Community list<br> <<a href="mailto:wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org">wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a>><br>Message-ID:<br>
<CABrp+ik2hKVqL5sOL=9vTV+O59Fr8G3URz_4pr=<a href="mailto:7LMWfiySkjQ@mail.gmail.com">7LMWfiySkjQ@mail.gmail.com</a>><br>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"<br><br>Thanks Pranav !!<br><br><br><br>Naveen Francis<br>Signature powered by<br><<a href="http://www.wisestamp.com/email-install?utm_source=extension&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=footer" target="_blank">http://www.wisestamp.com/email-install?utm_source=extension&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=footer</a>><br>
<br>WiseStamp<<a href="http://www.wisestamp.com/email-install?utm_source=extension&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=footer" target="_blank">http://www.wisestamp.com/email-install?utm_source=extension&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=footer</a>><br>
<br>On 9 August 2011 10:30, <<a href="mailto:wheredevelsdare@hotmail.com">wheredevelsdare@hotmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><br>> Sure - offline or non-english refs are accepted AGF!<br>><br>> ------------------------------<br>
> From: <a href="mailto:naveenpf@gmail.com">naveenpf@gmail.com</a><br>> Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 07:31:47 +0530<br>> To: <a href="mailto:wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org">wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br>
> Subject: Re: [Wikimediaindia-l] [Press] : New York Times : "When Knowledge<br>> Isn?t Written, Does It Still Count?"<br>><br>><br>> Nice article ... :)<br>><br>> Hi Tinu,<br>><br>> One doubt in referencing; can we keep text indic languages as reference in<br>
> English wikipedia ?<br>><br>> Naveen Francis<br>> Signature powered by<br>><<a href="http://www.wisestamp.com/email-install?utm_source=extension&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=footer" target="_blank">http://www.wisestamp.com/email-install?utm_source=extension&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=footer</a>><br>
><br>>WiseStamp<<a href="http://www.wisestamp.com/email-install?utm_source=extension&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=footer" target="_blank">http://www.wisestamp.com/email-install?utm_source=extension&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=footer</a>><br>
>><br>> On 8 August 2011 23:13, CherianTinu Abraham <<a href="mailto:tinucherian@gmail.com">tinucherian@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>><br>><br>> *NewYork Times : "When Knowledge Isn?t Written, Does It Still Count?"*<br>
><br>><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/business/media/a-push-to-redefine-knowledge-at-wikipedia.html" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/business/media/a-push-to-redefine-knowledge-at-wikipedia.html</a><br>
>l<br>><br>><br>> *?MAKING fun of Wikipedia is so 2007,? a French journalist said recently<br>> to Sue Gardner, the executive director of the foundation that runs the<br>> Wikipedia project.*<br>> *<br>
> *<br>> *And so Ms. Gardner, in turn, told an auditorium full of Wikipedia<br>> contributors and supporters on Thursday in Haifa, Israel, the host city for<br>> the seventh annual Wikimania conference, where meetings and presentations<br>
> focus on the world?s most used, and perhaps least understood, online<br>> reference work.*<br>> *<br>> *<br>> *Once routinely questioned about its reliability ? what do you mean,<br>> anyone can edit it? ? the site is now used every month by upwards of 400<br>
> million people worldwide. But with influence and respect come<br>> responsibility, and lately Wikipedia has been criticized from without and<br>> within for reflecting a Western, male-dominated mindset similar to the<br>
> perspective behind the encyclopedias it has replaced.*<br>> *<br>> *<br>> *Seeing Wikipedia as The Man, in so many words, is so 2011.*<br>> *<br>> *<br>> *And that?s a problem for an encyclopedia that wants to grow. Some critics<br>
> of Wikipedia believe that the whole Western tradition of footnotes and<br>> sourced articles needs to be rethought if Wikipedia is going to continue to<br>> gather converts beyond its current borders. And that, in turn, invites an<br>
> entirely new debate about what constitutes knowledge in different parts of<br>> the world and how a Western institution like Wikipedia can capitalize on it.<br>> *<br>> *<br>> *<br>> *Achal Prabhala, an adviser to Ms. Gardner?s Wikimedia Foundation who<br>
> lives and writes in Bangalore, India, has made perhaps the most trenchant<br>> criticism in a video project, ?People are Knowledge,? that he presented in<br>> Haifa (along with its clunky subtitle, ?Exploring alternative methods of<br>
> citation for Wikipedia?).*<br>> *<br>> *<br>> *The film, which was made largely with a $20,000 grant from the Wikimedia<br>> Foundation, spends time showing what has been lost to Wikipedia because of<br>
> stickling rules of citation and verification. If Wikipedia purports to<br>
> collect the ?sum of all human knowledge,? in the words of one of its<br>> founders, Jimmy Wales, that, by definition, means more than printed<br>> knowledge, Mr. Prabhala said.*<br>> *<br>> *<br>> *In the case of dabba kali, a children?s game played in the Kerala state<br>
> of India, there was a Wikipedia article in the local language, Malayalam,<br>> that included photos, a drawing and a detailed description of the rules, but<br>> no sources to back up what was written. Other than, of course, the 40<br>
> million people who played it as children.*<br>> *<br>> *<br>> *There is no doubt, he said, that the article would have been deleted from<br>> English Wikipedia if it didn?t have any sources to cite. Those are the rules<br>
> of the game, and those are the rules he would like to change, or at least<br>> bend, or, if all else fails, work around.*<br>> *<br>> *<br>> *?There is this desire to grow Wikipedia in parts of the world,? he said,<br>
> adding that ?if we don?t have a more generous and expansive citation policy,<br>> the current one will prove to be a massive roadblock that you literally<br>> can?t get past. There is a very finite amount of citable material, which<br>
> means a very finite number of articles, and there will be no more.?*<br>> *<br>> *<br>> *Mr. Prabhala, 38, who grew up in India and then attended American<br>> universities, has been an activist on issues of intellectual property,<br>
> starting with the efforts in South Africa to free up drugs that treat H.I.V.<br>> In the film, he gives other examples of subjects ? an alcohol produced in a<br>> village, Ga-Sabotlane, in Limpopo, South Africa, and a popular<br>
> hopscotch-type children?s game, tshere-tshere ? beyond print documentation<br>> and therefore beyond Wikipedia?s true-and-tried method.*<br>> *<br>> *<br>> *There are whole cultures, he said, that have little to no printed<br>
> material to cite as proof about the way life is lived.*<br>> *<br>> *<br>> *?Publishing is a system of power and I mean that in a completely<br>> pleasant, accepting sense,? he said mischievously. ?But it leaves out<br>
> people.?*<br>> *<br>> *<br>> *But Mr. Prabhala offers a solution: he and the video?s directors, Priya<br>> Sen and Zen Marie, spoke with people in African and Indian villages either<br>> in person or over the phone and had them describe basic activities. These<br>
> recordings were then uploaded and linked to the article as sources, and<br>> suddenly an article that seems like it could be a personal riff looks a bit<br>> more academic.*<br>> *<br>> *<br>> *For example, in his interview with a South African villager who explained<br>
> how to make the alcoholic drink, morula, she repeatedly says that it is best<br>> if she demonstrates the process. When the fruit is ready, said the villager,<br>> Philipine Moremi, according to the project?s transcript of her phone<br>
> conversation, ?we pry them open. We are going to show you how it is done.<br>> Once they are peeled, we seal them to ferment and then we drink.? The idea<br>> of treating personal testimony as a source for Wikipedia is still<br>
> controversial, and reflects the concerns that dominated the encyclopedia<br>> project six years ago, when arguably its very existence was threatened.*<br>> *<br>> *<br>> *After a series of hoaxes, culminating in a Wikipedia article in 2005 that<br>
> maligned the newspaper editor John Seigenthaler for no discernible reason<br>> other than because a Wikipedia contributor could, the site tried to ensure<br>> that every statement could be traced to a source.*<br>
> *<br>> *<br>> *Then there is the rule ?no original research,? which was meant to say<br>> that Wikipedia doesn?t care if you are writing about the subway station you<br>> visit every day, find someone who has written reliably on the color of the<br>
> walls there.*<br>> *<br>> *<br>> *?The natural thing is getting more and more accurate, locking down<br>> articles, raising the bar on sources,? said Andrew Lih, an associate<br>> professor of journalism at the University of Southern California, who was an<br>
> early contributor to Wikipedia and has written a history of its rise. ?Isn?t<br>> it great we have so many texts online??*<br>> *<br>> *<br>> *But what works for the most developed societies, he said, won?t<br>
> necessarily work for others. ?Lots of knowledge is not Googleable,? he said,<br>> ?and is not in a digital form.?*<br>> *<br>> *<br>> *Mr. Lih said that he could see the Wikipedia project suddenly becoming<br>
> energized by the process of documenting cultural practices around the world,<br>> or down the street.*<br>> *<br>> *<br>> *Perhaps Mr. Prabhala?s most challenging argument is that by being<br>> text-focused, and being locked into the Encyclopedia Britannica model,<br>
> Wikipedia risks being behind the times.*<br>> *<br>> *<br>> *An 18-year-old is comfortable using ?objects of trust that have been<br>> created on the Internet,? he said, and ?Wikipedia isn?t taking advantage of<br>
> that.? And, he added, ?it is quite possible that for the 18-year-old of<br>> today that Wikipedia looks like his father?s project. Or the kind of thing<br>> his father might be interested in.?*<br>> *<br>> *<br>
> *Ouch.*<br>><br>><br>><br>><br>> Regards<br>> Tinu Cherian<br>><br>><br>><br>> _______________________________________________<br>> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list<br>> <a href="mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org">Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br>
> <a href="https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l" target="_blank">https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l</a><br>><br>><br>><br>> _______________________________________________ Wikimediaindia-l mailing<br>
> list <a href="mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org">Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br>> <a href="https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l" target="_blank">https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l</a><br>
><br>> _______________________________________________<br>> Wikimediaindia-l mailing list<br>> <a href="mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org">Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br>> <a href="https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l" target="_blank">https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l</a><br>
><br>><br>-------------- next part --------------<br>An HTML attachment was scrubbed...<br>URL:<br><a href="http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/attachments/20110809/1fc12983/attachment.htm" target="_blank">http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/attachments/20110809/1fc12983/attachment.htm</a><br>
<br><br>------------------------------<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Wikimediaindia-l mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org">Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br>
<a href="https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l" target="_blank">https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l</a><br><br><br>End of Wikimediaindia-l Digest, Vol 38, Issue 13<br>************************************************<br>
-------------- next part --------------<br>An HTML attachment was scrubbed...<br>URL: <a href="http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/attachments/20110809/4a7e1a2a/attachment.htm" target="_blank">http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaindia-l/attachments/20110809/4a7e1a2a/attachment.htm</a><br>
<br>------------------------------<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Wikimediaindia-l mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org">Wikimediaindia-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br>
<a href="https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l" target="_blank">https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediaindia-l</a><br><br><br>End of Wikimediaindia-l Digest, Vol 38, Issue 14<br>************************************************<br>
</blockquote></div><br>