I am pleased to announce that, thanks to Google Summer of Code student Priyanka Mandikal, the project for the Accuracy Review of Wikipedias project has delivered a working demonstration of open source code and data available here:
https://github.com/priyankamandikal/arowf/
Please try it out at:
http://tools.wmflabs.org/arowf/
We need your help to test it and try it out and send us comments. You can read more about the project here:
https://priyankamandikal.github.io/posts/gsoc-2016-project-overview/
The formal project report, still in progress (Google docs comments from anyone are most welcome) is at:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_AiOyVn9Qf5ne1qCHIygUU3OTJcbpkb14N3rItyj...
This allows experiments to measure, for example, how long it would take to complete proofreading of the wikipedias with and without paying editors to work alongside volunteers. I am sure everyone agrees that is an interesting question which bears directly on budget expectations. I hope multiple organizations use the published methods and their Python implementations to make such measurements. I would also like to suggest a proposal related to the questions in both of the following reviews:
http://unotes.hartford.edu/announcements/images/2014_03_04_Cerasoli_and_Nick...
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1748-8583.12080/abstract
The most recent solicitation of community input for the Foundation's Public Policy team I've seen said that they would like suggestions for specific issues as long as the suggestions did not involve endorsements of or opposition to any specific candidates. My support for adjusting copyright royalties on a sliding scale to transfer wealth from larger to smaller artists has been made clear, and I do not believe there are any concerns that I have not addressed concerning alignment to mission or effectiveness. I would also like to propose a related endorsement.
The Making Work Pay tax credit (MWPTC) is a negative payroll tax that expired in 2010. It has all the advantages of an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) but would happen with every paycheck. Reinstating the Making Work Pay tax credit would serve to reduce economic inequality.
This proposal is within the scope of the Foundation's mission because reducing economic inequality should serve to empower people to develop educational content for the projects because of the increased levels of support for artistic production among a broader set of potential editors with additional discretionary free time due to increased wealth. This proposal is needed because economic inequality produces more excess avoidable deaths and leads to fewer years of productive life than global warming. This proposal would provide substantial benefits to the movement, the community, the Foundation, the US and the world if it were to be successfully adopted. For the reasons stated above, this proposal will be seen as positive.
Here is some background and supporting information:
* MWPTC overview: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Making_Work_Pay_tax_credit
* MWPTC details: http://tpcprod.urban.org/taxtopics/2011_work.cfm
* Problems with expanding the EITC: http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/eitc-expansion-backed-obama-and-ryan-c...
* Educational advantages of expanding the EITC: https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/this-policy-would-help-poor-kids-more-tha...
* Financial advantages of expanding the EITC: http://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/strengthening-the-eitc-for-childles...
* The working class has lost half their wealth over the past two decades: https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/finance/why-people-are-angry/
* Health effects of addressing economic inequality: http://talknicer.com/ehlr.pdf
* Economic growth effects of addressing economic inequality: http://talknicer.com/egma.pdf
* Unemployment and underemployment effects of addressing economic inequality: http://diposit.ub.edu/dspace/bitstream/2445/33140/1/617293.pdf
For an example of how a campaign on this issue could be conducted based on the issues identified in the sources above, please see: http://bit.ly/mwptc
Please share your thoughts on the wikipedias proofreading time measurement effort and this related public policy proposal.
I expect that some people will say that they do not understand how the public policy proposal relates to the project to measure the amount of time it would take to proofread the wikipedias. I am happy to explain that in detail if and when needed. On a related note, I would like to point out that the project report Google doc suggests future work involving a peer learning system for speaking skills using the same architecture as we derived from the constraints for successfully performing simultaneous paid and volunteer proofreading. I would like people to keep that in mind when evaluating the utility of these proposals.
Sincerely, Jim Salsman