My usual optimism can sometimes lead to disappointment, but I think I'd
rather have it that way. Projects like Monmouthpedia and Gibraltarpedia
have a huge potential for doing good work, and they need the community to
support and engage with them to make sure they deliver that good work.
I am pleased to read Andreas' précis of the extent to which he would
support projects, but it's worth fleshing out the positive side of engaging
in such projects, either as volunteers or as a body:
1. There is an opportunity to create many new encyclopedic articles, not
only in English but also in myriad other languages.
2. There is an opportunity to take and publish photographs of notable
objects and people.
3. There is an opportunity to enthuse existing editors and recruit new
editors, training them as we go along.
4. There is an opportunity to create networks to support more projects
between interested groups who share our aims.
For example, Monmouthpedia generated many new articles in multiple
languages as well as new photographs; the volunteers' efforts have helped
vitalise the Welsh Wikipedia; the contacts made are leading to a shift in
attitude of the Welsh Government and academia towards free and open
licensing of work that they create or are custodians of.
Gibraltarpedia has the potential to involve the whole area from Gibraltar
into North Africa and create links between British, Spanish and North
African wikimedians - perhaps even help to establish new communities of
wikimedians where they do not yet exist.
Andreas' concerns are clearly genuinely held, and we should never fear
honest scrutiny and criticism. I'm looking forward to seeing new
initiatives in the future and I'd welcome everyone's input on how best to
ensure that they meet the vision of our wiki-movement. Contributions from
our sternest critics are potentially the most valuable.
--
Rexx
On 12 February 2013 13:41, Andreas Kolbe <jayen466(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Thomas,
I don't think there is much wrong with projects like Monmouthpedia and
Gibraltarpedia at all. When I first heard about Monmouthpedia, I thought it
was a great project.
Problems arose from –
1. the conflation of roles within the chapter,
2. the projects' being plainly described as tourism marketing initiatives
in the press, and
3. the use of the Wikipedia main page to increase project and customer
visibility.
I see a PR, credibility and integrity problem for the Wikimedia movement
if such projects are prominently sold by Wikimedia as marketing projects
designed to increase tourism – because this means we are saying it is fine
to leverage Wikipedia to boost local business.
Similarly, I don't think it is wise to leverage the main page to enhance
such projects' visibility, or for Wikimedia UK to endorse any such use of
the main page. Commercial interests should be kept at arm's length from WMF
and the chapter, and from the Wikipedia identity.
I don't want to see the Wikipedia main page play host to all manner of
hidden commercial interests, especially when the commercial background is
not transparent to the average reader. In relation to the lack of
transparency, there is also a potential legal problem here under EU
legislation, as described in the Signpost a while back:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2012-11-12/News_a…
In my view, Wikimedia should support such projects as outreach efforts, to
get people involved in writing content, but not as marketing ploys.
In terms of content generation, and getting people involved in Wikipedia,
these are good projects, and to that degree I support them.
Best,
Andreas
On Tue, Feb 12, 2013 at 12:42 PM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton(a)gmail.com>wrote;wrote:
On 11 February 2013 17:52, Andreas Kolbe
<jayen466(a)gmail.com> wrote:
I would oppose any support from Wikimedia UK for
targeted use of the
Wikipedia main page to increase the visibility of projects like
Gibraltarpedia.
What do you count as "projects like Gibraltarpedia"? Are you opposed
to the entire concept of wikitowns? Or is it the specific
circumstances of Gibraltarpedia you object to?
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