David Gerard wrote:
... written anything good on the encyclopedia lately?
- d.
I assume you're addressing this to those still able to do so. I, for my part, am beavering away on Commons trying to sort out the mess that is [[Category:Rivers of England]]. Category maintenance seems to be somewhat haphazard/optional there, and I guess we can always do wth some additional help.
... written anything good on the encyclopedia lately?
- d.
Well, yes,
I discovered the answer to the mystery of why Mao adopted Stalinism and put it into History of the People's Republic of China (19491976)
A lot of people have wondered where he got those ideas. Turns out they came from History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolshevik): Short Course which was adopted by the Comintern as official history in 1938.
This solution was developed by Hua-yu Li, of Oregon State University and published in his book, Mao and the Economic Stalinization of China, 1948-1953, Rowman & Littlefield (February 17, 2006) (hardcover), pp. 266. ISBN 0742540537.
The introduction is on the publisher's website at
http://chapters.scarecrowpress.com/07/425/0742540545ch1.pdf
So yes, progress is made
Fred
If you're into mythology/cryptozoology, I did some translation from Old Norse and Old Icelandic this summer to put together what is probably the most complete syntheses (in any language) of [[Hafgufa]] and [[Lyngbakr]], two legendary sea monsters.
Bob
On Tue, Oct 11, 2011 at 12:17 PM, Fred Bauder fredbaud@fairpoint.netwrote:
... written anything good on the encyclopedia lately?
- d.
Well, yes,
I discovered the answer to the mystery of why Mao adopted Stalinism and put it into History of the People's Republic of China (1949–1976)
A lot of people have wondered where he got those ideas. Turns out they came from History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolshevik): Short Course which was adopted by the Comintern as official history in 1938.
This solution was developed by Hua-yu Li, of Oregon State University and published in his book, Mao and the Economic Stalinization of China, 1948-1953, Rowman & Littlefield (February 17, 2006) (hardcover), pp. 266. ISBN 0742540537.
The introduction is on the publisher's website at
http://chapters.scarecrowpress.com/07/425/0742540545ch1.pdf
So yes, progress is made
Fred
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On Tue, Oct 11, 2011 at 6:41 PM, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
... written anything good on the encyclopedia lately?
- d.
Mostly cogent notices on talk pages, hoping that years from now somebody with more in-subject expertice will address those concerns. Eventualism isn't fun but it gets there eventually.
On Tue, Oct 11, 2011 at 4:41 PM, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
... written anything good on the encyclopedia lately?
I like this question ;O)
For my part I have been considering my actions during time spent on Wikipedia and actually adding content to articles has gone by the wayside!
I have mainly been reading articles and making minor edits, generally to little errors such as no space after punctuation or where someone has accidentally repeated words or phrases. I suspect there's a gadget out there that would do this much more quickly than my way. Prior to that I was attending to my watchlist and the bulk of the actions arising from that were reverts, warnings and welcomes.
But I must start devoting time to making more substantive contributions.
Bodnotbod
On 12 October 2011 10:26, Bod Notbod bodnotbod@gmail.com wrote:
I have mainly been reading articles and making minor edits, generally to little errors such as no space after punctuation or where someone has accidentally repeated words or phrases. I suspect there's a gadget out there that would do this much more quickly than my way. Prior to that I was attending to my watchlist and the bulk of the actions arising from that were reverts, warnings and welcomes. But I must start devoting time to making more substantive contributions.
Pretty much what I've been doing of late - just proofreading as I graze.
- d.
On Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 10:37 AM, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
Pretty much what I've been doing of late - just proofreading as I graze.
I have set myself the task of reading every article on current sitting UK MPs (whilst also keeping bookmarks of stuff to read after that, such as party articles or those on MPs not now sitting but that are names recognisable to me). 2012 is going to be my year of UK politics, I have decided.
There's no harm in doing this and, as I say, a little tidying gets done along the way. But I don't feel I have the balance between doing *real* *work* and keeping things suitably enjoyable and motivating quite right.
Perhaps I will do a second and much more arduous pass of the articles and start doing some proper writing. There's quite a few new MPs that got elected for the first time in 2010 and their articles can be quite short, so there's plenty of scope for substantial contributions.
Bodnotbod
On 12 October 2011 10:49, Bod Notbod bodnotbod@gmail.com wrote:
I have set myself the task of reading every article on current sitting UK MPs (whilst also keeping bookmarks of stuff to read after that, such as party articles or those on MPs not now sitting but that are names recognisable to me). 2012 is going to be my year of UK politics, I have decided.
We need photos of all of them. You could take to requesting free-licenced photos ...
- d.
On Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 10:53 AM, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
We need photos of all of them. You could take to requesting free-licenced photos ...
I shan't commit to that today, but I shall certainly consider it.
I haven't done anything like that before. This...
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:OTRS
...seems to be what I need to familiarise myself with. My first observation is that my request email to the MPs office is going to be a tough long read for them what with having to... well, you sort have to give them an education in licensing don't you? I suppose that can't really be avoided. That makes it quite a job.
Bodnotbod
All of the portraits on http://parliament.uk are copyright to http://dods.co.uk/
It has always been in the back of my mind to approach them and ask about relicensing with a free license (long shot, but maybe...).
Currently the images are licensed as freely usable with a non-commercial clause, which is obviously a sticking point to just using them straight out.
editor@dods.co.uk is the contact.
(pretty everything else on parliament.uk is licensed under the open parliament license BTW http://www.parliament.uk/site-information/copyright/open-parliament-licence/ )
Tom
On Wednesday, October 12, 2011, Thomas Morton wrote:
All of the portraits on http://parliament.uk are copyright to http://dods.co.uk/
It has always been in the back of my mind to approach them and ask about relicensing with a free license (long shot, but maybe...).
I can't remember who I had this discussion with but someone Wikimedia UK-related, I'm sure. Basically, one thing we could do once we have charity status is actually approach the Houses of Parliament and for some volunteers affiliated with WMUK to become official photographers, and to include that in the list of things MPs either have to or are encouraged to do when they return after the next election.
This is the sort of thing we can do as a chapter even if doing it as an individual is a pain in the ass.
On 11 October 2011 16:41, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
... written anything good on the encyclopedia lately?
[[Jacobus Verheiden]] turned out to be much more rewarding than it promised
to, when I just had a name. Spinoff from [[List of participants in the Synod of Dort]], which is a tough piece of reference-finding; but I liked the way it turned out to illuminate a whole series of engravings (on Commons) and to link in with [[Hendrik Hondius I]], and the Bodleian.
I came across the idea of "cigarette card" collections of portraits on [[List of legendary kings of Scotland]], and here it is again, earlier and in another form.
Charles
On Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 3:05 PM, Charles Matthews charles.r.matthews@ntlworld.com wrote:
I came across the idea of "cigarette card" collections of portraits on [[List of legendary kings of Scotland]], and here it is again, earlier and in another form.
There is a long and venerable history of such collections of portraits of the 'grand and the good'. My reading on collections of images includes collections such as 'virorum literis illustrium', 'icones virorum illustrium', 'vitae virorum illustrium' and so on.
I'm pleased to see we have an article on the topic:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_viris_illustribus
Though that refers to biographical collections, at some point the act of illustrating them caught on as well.
Or of simply making or collecting portraits:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovio_Series
Carcharoth
On 11 October 2011 16:41, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
... written anything good on the encyclopedia lately?
Aaaand, an article I created long ago has been AFDed:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/XScreenSaver
The material to save it exists, but isn't in the article as yet. I have work to do!
- d.