All, I'm pleased to announce that four Wikipedians -- myself (user:phoebe), Charles Matthews (user:Charles Matthews), Ben Yates (user:Tlogmer) and SJ Klein (user:sj) -- are writing a book about using and understanding Wikipedia, tentatively titled "How Wikipedia Works". It will be published by [[No Starch Press]] in early 2008.
This guide will be focused on helping readers understand Wikipedia and helping new editors contribute. We hope to include enough detail to make it a useful reference for current contributors as well. (Note that this is a different project from the O'Reilly book that was discussed earlier on the lists).
We welcome community feedback and ideas, and hope to make this a truly community-based work. There is a project page here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/user:Phoebe/book We'll add detail there over the coming weeks, and have asked for feedback in some specific areas. Please do contribute and send us your thoughts and ideas.
Some details:
* The book will be licensed under the GFDL and an online version will be available. (No Starch has been a great partner in this and has been very supportive of open licensing). Where the book reprints on-wiki documentation, the authors of that documentation will be credited. * We're primarily focusing on the English Wikipedia, but there will be brief sections about the sister projects and Wikipedias in other languages, so we definitely welcome feedback and ideas from those communities as well. * A portion of the authors' proceeds will be donated to the Wikimedia Foundation.
If you have any questions, concerns or ideas, please let me or one of the other authors know. I'll be updating the project page with progress information as we get closer to publication.
best, Phoebe Ayers phoebe.ayers@gmail.com
On 12/4/07, phoebe ayers phoebe.wiki@gmail.com wrote:
- The book will be licensed under the GFDL and an online version will
be available... [...]
- A portion of the authors' proceeds will be donated to the Wikimedia
Foundation.
Of course, anyone aware of both of these facts will probably be smart enough to: 1. Download the book, if they want to. 2. Send money directly to the foundation (cutting out the publisher and any other intermediaries), if they want to. So the proceeds might be on the meager side, though hopefully enough to cover production expenses... (?)
—C.W.
On 04/12/2007, Charlotte Webb charlottethewebb@gmail.com wrote:
On 12/4/07, phoebe ayers phoebe.wiki@gmail.com wrote:
- The book will be licensed under the GFDL and an online version will
be available... [...]
- A portion of the authors' proceeds will be donated to the Wikimedia
Foundation.
Of course, anyone aware of both of these facts will probably be smart enough to:
- Download the book, if they want to.
- Send money directly to the foundation (cutting out the publisher
and any other intermediaries), if they want to. So the proceeds might be on the meager side, though hopefully enough to cover production expenses... (?)
There is a significant convenience involved in having a physical book in your hand. I imagine a significant number of people will buy the book rather than download it.
On Dec 4, 2007 1:21 PM, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
There is a significant convenience involved in having a physical book in your hand. I imagine a significant number of people will buy the book rather than download it.
Here is an interesting article about Cory Doctorow (BoingBoing etc) and his licensing experience using creative commons for his books. Of course he has no way of comparing, but he has said in a number of places that he thinks it has worked out great.
http://www.forbes.com/2006/11/30/cory-doctorow-copyright-tech-media_cz_cd_bo...
As he says, the problem isn't selling the books, the problem is being too obscure for anyone to care. Open licensing helps people hear about your book and share it, and the more people that want it, the more people will buy it. :)
On 12/5/07, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
There is a significant convenience involved in having a physical book in your hand. I imagine a significant number of people will buy the book rather than download it.
On the occasions where I've had this choice, I've almost invariably opted for the .pdf because you get it faster, then once I've got that, not found a compelling reason for getting the hardcopy. Need to read away from a computer? Print some pages. Want to snuggle up with it in bed? Uh, a software manual? And, as pointed out, being able to search is a very powerful thing...
Steve
On Dec 5, 2007 4:41 PM, Steve Bennett stevagewp@gmail.com wrote:
On 12/5/07, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
There is a significant convenience involved in having a physical book in your hand. I imagine a significant number of people will buy the book rather than download it.
On the occasions where I've had this choice, I've almost invariably opted for the .pdf because you get it faster, then once I've got that, not found a compelling reason for getting the hardcopy. Need to read away from a computer? Print some pages. Want to snuggle up with it in bed? Uh, a software manual? And, as pointed out, being able to search is a very powerful thing...
Steve
While these are all perfectly valid arguments for individual geeks to not buy paper books, the book companies business is steady or slowly growing over time, so there's no reason not to go with a real publisher and have them print some up.
Unless you're *opposed* to making money...
On 12/6/07, George Herbert george.herbert@gmail.com wrote:
While these are all perfectly valid arguments for individual geeks to not buy paper books, the book companies business is steady or slowly growing over time, so there's no reason not to go with a real publisher and have them print some up.
Unless you're *opposed* to making money...
I was only addressing individual geeks. I have no opinion on what format books should be sold in, other than that electronic delivery has a much greater risk of piracy.
Steve
On Dec 5, 2007 7:33 PM, Steve Bennett stevagewp@gmail.com wrote:
On 12/6/07, George Herbert george.herbert@gmail.com wrote:
While these are all perfectly valid arguments for individual geeks to
not
buy paper books, the book companies business is steady or slowly growing over time, so there's no reason not to go with a real publisher and have them print some up.
Unless you're *opposed* to making money...
I was only addressing individual geeks. I have no opinion on what format books should be sold in, other than that electronic delivery has a much greater risk of piracy.
In this case, with a GFDL online version planned, piracy is sort of inapplicable. 8-)
...which leads into the Flint/Doctorow Doctorine of "release it freely to increase ultimate sales", but that's a different story...
On Dec 5, 2007 10:43 PM, George Herbert george.herbert@gmail.com wrote:
On Dec 5, 2007 7:33 PM, Steve Bennett stevagewp@gmail.com wrote:
I have no opinion on what format books should be sold in, other than that electronic delivery has a much greater risk of piracy.
In this case, with a GFDL online version planned, piracy is sort of inapplicable. 8-)
Yes, one of the best ways to reduce piracy of your e-book is to release it under a free license.
On Dec 4, 2007 11:15 AM, Charlotte Webb charlottethewebb@gmail.com wrote:
On 12/4/07, phoebe ayers phoebe.wiki@gmail.com wrote:
- The book will be licensed under the GFDL and an online version will
be available... [...]
- A portion of the authors' proceeds will be donated to the Wikimedia
Foundation.
Of course, anyone aware of both of these facts will probably be smart enough to:
- Download the book, if they want to.
- Send money directly to the foundation (cutting out the publisher
and any other intermediaries), if they want to.
Both of which activities are entirely encouraged :) But if folks do want a physical book (which is something that we see a market for, or we wouldn't be doing this) I hope that they will also buy a printed copy.
best, Phoebe
I'd also like to point out http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596515164/ , a book written by User:John Broughton, due to be released in January. Thanks
Redrocketboy
phoebe ayers wrote:
On Dec 4, 2007 11:15 AM, Charlotte Webb charlottethewebb@gmail.com wrote:
On 12/4/07, phoebe ayers phoebe.wiki@gmail.com wrote:
- The book will be licensed under the GFDL and an online version will
be available... [...]
- A portion of the authors' proceeds will be donated to the Wikimedia
Foundation.
Of course, anyone aware of both of these facts will probably be smart enough to:
- Download the book, if they want to.
- Send money directly to the foundation (cutting out the publisher
and any other intermediaries), if they want to.
Both of which activities are entirely encouraged :) But if folks do want a physical book (which is something that we see a market for, or we wouldn't be doing this) I hope that they will also buy a printed copy.
I look forward to ample copies being brought to Alexandria where all four authors can be there to autograph them. 8-)
Ec
On Dec 4, 2007 9:25 PM, Ray Saintonge saintonge@telus.net wrote:
phoebe ayers wrote:
On Dec 4, 2007 11:15 AM, Charlotte Webb charlottethewebb@gmail.com wrote:
On 12/4/07, phoebe ayers phoebe.wiki@gmail.com wrote:
- The book will be licensed under the GFDL and an online version will
be available... [...]
- A portion of the authors' proceeds will be donated to the Wikimedia
Foundation.
Of course, anyone aware of both of these facts will probably be smart enough to:
- Download the book, if they want to.
- Send money directly to the foundation (cutting out the publisher
and any other intermediaries), if they want to.
Both of which activities are entirely encouraged :) But if folks do want a physical book (which is something that we see a market for, or we wouldn't be doing this) I hope that they will also buy a printed copy.
I look forward to ample copies being brought to Alexandria where all four authors can be there to autograph them. 8-)
Ec
Yes! Hopefully all four authors will make it this year, though that remains to be seen. And I am not totally sure about the advisability of hauling a box of books half-way around the world... but these are minor details. You shall get an autographed copy :)
-- phoebe
On 04/12/2007, Charlotte Webb charlottethewebb@gmail.com wrote:
On 12/4/07, phoebe ayers phoebe.wiki@gmail.com wrote:
- The book will be licensed under the GFDL and an online version will
be available... [...]
- A portion of the authors' proceeds will be donated to the Wikimedia
Foundation.
Of course, anyone aware of both of these facts will probably be smart enough to:
- Download the book, if they want to.
- Send money directly to the foundation (cutting out the publisher
and any other intermediaries), if they want to. So the proceeds might be on the meager side, though hopefully enough to cover production expenses... (?)
Theose likely to think of doing that, and interested, are geeks. Geeks, in my long experience, like being snowed under with books. I'm not sure this is a group of potential customers one needs to worry about :-)
On 04/12/2007, Andrew Gray shimgray@gmail.com wrote:
Theose likely to think of doing that, and interested, are geeks. Geeks, in my long experience, like being snowed under with books. I'm not sure this is a group of potential customers one needs to worry about :-)
Ctrl-F doesn't work on books.
On 12/4/07, geni geniice@gmail.com wrote:
On 04/12/2007, Andrew Gray shimgray@gmail.com wrote:
Theose likely to think of doing that, and interested, are geeks. Geeks, in my long experience, like being snowed under with books. I'm not sure this is a group of potential customers one needs to worry about :-)
Ctrl-F doesn't work on books.
And of course one needs not be a geek to realize this.
—C.W.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1
It's one of those "It'll never work!" ideas - like Wikipedia itself - but of course, it does. Congratulations.
On 04/12/2007, phoebe ayers phoebe.wiki@gmail.com wrote:
All, I'm pleased to announce that four Wikipedians -- myself (user:phoebe), Charles Matthews (user:Charles Matthews), Ben Yates (user:Tlogmer) and SJ Klein (user:sj) -- are writing a book about using and understanding Wikipedia, tentatively titled "How Wikipedia Works". It will be published by [[No Starch Press]] in early 2008.
This guide will be focused on helping readers understand Wikipedia and helping new editors contribute. We hope to include enough detail to make it a useful reference for current contributors as well. (Note that this is a different project from the O'Reilly book that was discussed earlier on the lists).
We welcome community feedback and ideas, and hope to make this a truly community-based work. There is a project page here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/user:Phoebe/book We'll add detail there over the coming weeks, and have asked for feedback in some specific areas. Please do contribute and send us your thoughts and ideas.
Some details:
- The book will be licensed under the GFDL and an online version will
be available. (No Starch has been a great partner in this and has been very supportive of open licensing). Where the book reprints on-wiki documentation, the authors of that documentation will be credited.
- We're primarily focusing on the English Wikipedia, but there will be
brief sections about the sister projects and Wikipedias in other languages, so we definitely welcome feedback and ideas from those communities as well.
- A portion of the authors' proceeds will be donated to the Wikimedia
Foundation.
If you have any questions, concerns or ideas, please let me or one of the other authors know. I'll be updating the project page with progress information as we get closer to publication.
best, Phoebe Ayers phoebe.ayers@gmail.com
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<quote who="phoebe ayers" date="Tue, Dec 04, 2007 at 10:46:50AM -0800">
I'm pleased to announce that four Wikipedians -- myself (user:phoebe), Charles Matthews (user:Charles Matthews), Ben Yates (user:Tlogmer) and SJ Klein (user:sj) -- are writing a book about using and understanding Wikipedia, tentatively titled "How Wikipedia Works". It will be published by [[No Starch Press]] in early 2008.
Congrats on the book and the public announcement. Fantastic that it will be released under a free license!
Regards, Mako
On 12/4/07, phoebe ayers phoebe.wiki@gmail.com wrote:
All, I'm pleased to announce that four Wikipedians -- myself (user:phoebe), Charles Matthews (user:Charles Matthews), Ben Yates (user:Tlogmer) and SJ Klein (user:sj) -- are writing a book about using and understanding Wikipedia, tentatively titled "How Wikipedia Works". It will be published by [[No Starch Press]] in early 2008.
Best of luck, Phoebe. :-) I couldn't think of a better group of people for an effort like this!