Hi all,

As following the previous email from Galder, I completely agree that this topic -if there is a trust in the work of Wikipedians and their communities, which I am sure we all do- should be primarily debated, if not fully, in the corresponding linguistical version of Wikipedia. As Jane and Risker said, there are several Wikiprojects in which users centralize these discussions and tackle these topics.

The starting point from which someone may consider that the US election topic is an "international issue" that allows it to be more thoroughly debated in this list regarding Wikipedia's content than other similar ones, or that must be an example of coverage for the rest, is for me another (already too) common US-centrism that I think we should avoid here.

Thank you for understanding it,

Xavier Dengra



‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
El dimarts, 21 de setembre 2021 a les 3:53 PM, Jane Darnell <jane023@gmail.com> va escriure:

I do feel US elections and their coverage is an international issue, especially in light of recent events that threaten democracy and could indirectly affect things like copyright on the internet. I do share concerns about “social media events” and it would be helpful to spell out how these could be covered in an encyclopedia when social media is not considered a reliable source for an article. Add to that a decline in subscriptions to local newspapers (I believe this is not only a US issue but an international problem) as well as geoblocking content of national newspapers and you have major issues with updates to Wikipedia election articles anywhere. I have no idea how to tackle these issues but have complete confidence in the various election-related WikiProjects so if there’s such a project on meta maybe they have already joined forces on this.
Jane

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 21, 2021, at 1:36 PM, Gerard Meijssen <gerard.meijssen@gmail.com> wrote:

Hoi,
What is painfully obvious is the bias that exists. For countries in Africa we do not even know all the government ministers past and present for the last 70 years let alone that we know about past elections. At that, it is fine with me that subjects like this are raised.
Thanks,
     GerardM

On Tue, 21 Sept 2021 at 09:19, Galder Gonzalez Larrañaga <galder158@hotmail.com> wrote:
I would add to the idea that this is an international mailing list where most of the users are not from the US the idea that there are other Wikipedias around that are not in English, so the coverage of details of the US elections at the English Wikipedia should be discussed... at the English Wikipedia.

Thanks for your understanding.

Galder


From: Risker <risker.wp@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2021 8:14 AM
To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org>
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Re: Encyclopedic Coverage of American Elections
 
There are already wikiprojects on English Wikipedia that work on elections.[1][2]  I suggest you might want to continue this conversation there, with people who have a strong interest in US elections, and a good grasp on what is and is not likely to make a successful article. As noted before, this is an international mailing list, and there are better places to talk about American politics. 

Oh...incidentally. That photo had no impact at all. The election was yesterday, and the results were pretty much as predicted at least a week ago; there were no surprises.

Risker/Anne






On Tue, 21 Sept 2021 at 01:45, Adam Sobieski <adamsobieski@hotmail.com> wrote:

Thank you.

 

In the recent Canadian federal election [1], there was a last-minute happening [2] in the news and on social media [3] which seems difficult to precisely attribute to a responsible party. It appears that one or more photographs were leaked to a news organization which probably does not want to reveal their source. I am thinking about how best to include such complex events and happenings in encyclopedia articles about election-related strategies, tactics, events, and happenings.

 

On the topic of US election-related encyclopedia articles, I think that it will be easier and that there will be more interested Wikimedians as the next election season approaches (2022) or, perhaps, as the next Presidential election season approaches (2024). Then, instead of exploring news archives, interested Wikimedians could add relevant events and happenings to encyclopedia articles as they occur.

 

My current plan for improving Wikipedia’s overall election coverage includes participating, alongside interested others, in US 2024 Presidential election-related encyclopedia articles so that the quality of these prominent encyclopedia articles might inspire the broader community with regard to covering subsequent elections. If anyone has a better plan, please let me know.

 

If there is interest, perhaps we could organize a community project, a Wikiproject [4] or a Task Force [5], to think about and to discuss these topics – and, perhaps, to collaborate to build templates or prototypes of enhanced election coverage – en route to 2024.

 

In the interim, I can see whether I can find enough content to create and structure articles about these topics pertaining to recent US Presidential elections (2016 and 2020).

 

 

Best regards,

Adam

 

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Canadian_federal_election

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_surprise

[3] https://torontosun.com/news/election-2021/lilley-another-blackface-photo-embarrassing-to-trudeau-but-not-his-voters

 

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject

[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Guide/Task_forces

 

Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2021 12:31 PM
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Re: Encyclopedic Coverage of American Elections

 

Hi Adam,

 

If this is a subject you care about, you are probably the right person to start writing those articles you would like to see.

 

If you wait to see "how Wikimedians choose to create and structure them", you might very well never see the articles come to life.

 

It's never too late to start editing 😉

 

 

Cheers,

 

El dom., 19 de sep. de 2021 09:55, Adam Sobieski <adamsobieski@hotmail.com> escribió:

Thank you. It is interesting to consider how a more granular coverage of elections, coverage which includes notable mass media events, e.g., news stories and social media events, caused by and/or strategically reacted to by political campaigns, parties, and organizations, coverage which includes election tactics and strategies, can enhance Wikipedia and provide its readers with fuller pictures of elections.

 

I am starting to think about possibilities with respect to these new articles. I am looking forward to seeing how Wikimedians choose to create and structure them. A hope is that future elections will improve as a result.

 

 

Best regards,

Adam

 

From: Risker
Sent: Saturday, September 18, 2021 5:51 PM
Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Re: Encyclopedic Coverage of American Elections

 

Hello Adam -

 

This looks like a series of articles that could reasonably be made about the elections of any country:  for example, "Election tactics in the 2000 US Presidential election" or "Election tactics in the 1986 British House of Commons election" or whatever. Draft space is right there waiting for you or others to create the articles.  I'm sure for many of these elections there will be lots of available reference sources, both contemporaneous and in terms of historical research.  It will be important to ensure that no political bias is introduced into the articles.  Of course, there is also the question of whether these tactics had any effect on the outcome of any given election, and what that effect was; again, that will probably need reference sources from independent academic researchers and books. 

 

Incidentally, this is an international list; at least half of the people who post here live and work in countries outside of the United States.  I am uncomfortable to see Wikimedians referred to as "we, the American people", and I hope that you will reconsider that kind of approach toward any project.  Even English Wikipedia, which I assume is your target audience here, is edited more by people outside the US than those inside it. 

 

Risker/Anne

 

On Sat, 18 Sept 2021 at 14:50, Adam Sobieski <adamsobieski@hotmail.com> wrote:

Wikimedia,

 

I have a psephological and election historical observation that I would like to share with Wikimedia.

 

Low-brow, crass, and manipulative political advertising and marketing, various hot-button, third-rail, dog-whistle, and wedge issues, have been deployed by candidates, campaigns, and political actors and organizations during American election seasons. These tactics are very much a part of our elections and appear to be subsequently omitted from encyclopedic (e.g., Wikipedia) and historical coverage of the elections (e.g., 2000 – 2020).

 

How low have election campaigns gone? Very. Yet, for some reasons, American encyclopedists and historians appear to be almost complicit, glossing over these problematic election campaign tactics. Each historical election appears to be reduced to a single encyclopedia article or small cluster of such articles, only some such articles attempt to list election issues, and no such article mentions campaign advertising and marketing themes and tactics deployed by campaigns, political actors, and organizations on radio, television, the Web, or social media.

 

I propose that encyclopedists, scholars, and scientists seek to attend to, remember, and record election campaign mass media tactics and manipulations lest we, the American people, be doomed to repeat them in future elections. Perhaps by remembering the election campaign advertising and marketing tactics utilized, including on social media, and listing them encyclopedically, a buoyant pressure can be created with which to elevate our American politics.

 

Thank you for your time and for considering these ideas with which to improve encyclopedic coverage of American elections.

 

 

Best regards,

Adam Sobieski

 

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