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@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 _______________________________________________ Wiki-research-l mailing list Wiki-research-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l