Hello Ziko,
speaking for myself. I am for such an approach. But I would also like to see such a project, because it is so important, to be prepared carefully. The suggestions is not made the first time, and last time when the suggetion was on meta, it was discussed until no one can give it a chance anymore.
I also don't see such a project really as a compititor to the "adult" Wikipedia. I think both projects can benefit from each other alot.
Now one step back. Encyclopedia for kids is not new. A lot of classic encyclopedia has their kid version. This shows that a kid encyclopedia is not just an encyclopedia in "dumn" language. Contrarily, I think a kid encyclopedia is far more challenging to write, because you need more pedagogic skills. And building up such skills by our contributors can again benefit Wikipedia. There are also other online kid encyclopedia from which we can learn from their experiences. I definitively would like to see what Robert would find out in this respect and how his research can encourage us or help us in this new endeavor.
Greetings Ting
Ziko van Dijk wrote:
Hello,
It seems to me doubtless that there is a substantial number of active Wikimedians who see the need in a simple or children-encyclopedia and would like to invest some of their own sweat, blood and tears. Others, who disagree, may stand on the side line and comment if they like.
There are a lot of single questions when defining the exact scope etc., but the main question remains: Would WMF accept such a project, or would it reject it for being just another Wikipedia in already existing languages. So, how different the new project must be from Wikipedia. The original fear is that a linguistic group is split into two communities whereas the forces usually should be concentrated in one Wikipedia. A Wikipedia in "simple English", we were told, is essentially a Wikipedia in English.
But if a project, for example, directs itself to a relativeley limited group of readers (children), with consequences for the content (limited length of articles, no explicit images), usage of language (no hard words), wouldn't it be different enough from a "usual" Wikipedia?
Kind regards Ziko
2010/6/27 Ting Chen wing.philopp@gmx.de:
Hello Milos,
reading your mail below I am wondering why your reaction on my first mail was so aggressive. It looks to me as if your consideration is not that far away from mine. Especially I wrote in my suggestion that first of all the project must have a very clearly defined scope and audiance, second that it should have a more rigid editorial and anti-vandal mechanism and third that we need more research.
Greetings Ting
Milos Rancic wrote:
On Sat, Jun 26, 2010 at 2:09 AM, Mark Williamson node.ue@gmail.com wrote:
The difference was that Wikipedia was not made for young people.
If I run a social group for adults and there are issues with children who visit, I can blame it on their parents and say they should control them better. If I run a social group for children, I'm now a childcare provider and have a greater degree of responsibility.
It is not [just] about blaming each other. It is about underestimating child capacities and playing with their trust.
Child is perfectly able to recognize what is "for adults" and what is "for children": everything not marked ("marked" in various ways) as "for children" is for adults. And they are able to treat differently those two types of phenomena. "For adults" is not safe, while "for children" is safe. Depending on circumstances, "for children" phenomena could be also boring to them, but safe.
And if we want to make a project in which children will trust as safe, we have much higher responsibility than we have for creating any other project not marked as a "project for children".
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-- Ting
Ting's Blog: http://wingphilopp.blogspot.com/
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