Thanks for your very useful thoughts, Samuel. They lead us to these
two key questions:
- Create new Wikipedias, or a new project: What would make sense? If
they were new Wikipedias, we would potentially double the list with
interwiki links ("in other languages"). I prefer a new project.
- Scope and name: Maybe it would practically make no big difference
whether the project is called "simple" or "for kids". Poor readers
and
adult beginning readers (natives or not) tend to read texts that are
meant for children anyway. It could make a difference in promoting,
though. A scope question can also be whether certain kinds of explicit
images are allowed.
Before beginning such a project, it may be good to have a more
elaborate concept than there has been when the Wikipedias started. But
even before that, the Foundation should tell whether such a project
has any chance to be accepted, or will be banned for being essentially
Wikipedia in already existing languages.
Hey, I just googled and found that there is already a proposal at Meta. :-)
Kind regards
Ziko
Hi Ziko,
On Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 8:41 AM, Ziko van Dijk <zvandijk(a)googlemail.com> wrote:
In the discussion, the question of creating a
Wikipedia in simple
German came up.
This would be useful.
As we know, to-day Wikimedia language committee
policies prohibit a
new Wikipedia in a language that already has a Wikipedia.
To be more precise: the language committee was tasked with determining
when to start new language projects. It was never asked to consider
other sorts of new projects. So either "simple German" is a new
language, or it's out of the current scope of the committee.
Overall, we've never decided whether a "simple" or "children's
encyclopedia" should be a separate project with its own root domain,
or another set of 'languages' that show up as an interlanguage link or
as
FOO.wikipedia.org .
The existence of a Wikipedia in simple English
refers to the fact that it
had been created before that policy of 2006.
Simple English is quite useful, and used for groups developing their
literacy skills at all ages, including many communities learning
English as a Second Language. Presumably the same could be true of
any other language.
There are a number of ideas and initiatives to
create online
encyclopedias in "simple language", in and outside the Wikimedia
world. Wouldn't it be suitable to reconsider and try to give those
initiatives a place? Who else is more capable to create and support
such encyclopedias than we are?
+1
My thoughts:
* I would love to see similar projects in at least German, French,
Spanish, and Dutch -- languages in which there are already communities
working on encyclopedic knowledge in simplified language.
* We should have a new process for requesting a simple-language
version of a project.
* We should resolve standard practice for naming them, and decide if
this should be a new top-level Project (like wikikids) or a variation
on the normal language code.
Considering the historical role of the children's encyclopedia, we
might consider rescoping "simple" as "for children" -- this could
help
to increase participation and use, and clarify the role of these
projects.
SJ
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