Jeff V. Merkey wrote:
Oldak Quill wrote:
Not at all. The best way to improve the site would
be to work with
other langauge Wikipedias and within Wikimedia. Are you being active
in seeking members?
Yes, I am, however, our culture is alien to the Wikipedia culture and
there are going to be issues
with the way the site operates. So far every Cherokee who has edited on
WP has gotten banned
or scrutinized to the point they leave. We have a concept of respecting
the space of a person who is working on something.
I guess this is a question of what you mean by Wikipedia culture. The
concept of respect is a big part of it. The English Wikipedia just has
a lot of ravens running around trying to impose it.
WP 's policies allow a 16 year old with a computer
to come in and
disrupt someone else's work and this
doesn;t work for us. Our culture is based on mutual respect, and I
believe WP and Wales operate on the
premise people on WP should be the same way. This has not been the
course followed. I think WP should
continue and we can do hat we need with the content -- off site where
our cultural issues can coexist peacefully.
Mutual respect is not a function of an editor's age. There can just as
easily be wise youth as there can be foolish elders.
You wont get many native people editing here due to the
way the site is
organized -- respect for others is
lacking in the way articles are edited. It's ok though, we can still
both be successful if we figure out a way
to create dual environments where folks can be successful.
I'm sure it's not the only reason they stay away. But the reason that
you cite for the absence of first nations people can just as easily
apply to people from other cultures, including ones whose only language
is English.
I am meeting with the tribal council of the Ute,
Shoshone, and Unita
Nations on July 18, at 1:30 in Fort Duschene
on the machine translations for their Wikipedia, so I am making
excellent progress. They also expressed a desire
to host their content off Wikipedia due to their review of the issues
with how the site works -- its alien to most native
cultures.
I guess this depends on what you mean by "how the site works". I would
certainly not encourage machine translations; the results are often
something that makes native speakers laugh. Although technical material
about how the site works is probably best translated, beyond that each
language Wikipedia (or other project) develops its own culture.
The Ute's believe their language is sacred and they
don't
want non speakers working on it for religious
reasons. You are going to find this is a prevalent attitude among
Native Peoples. The ute's did not even allow their
langauge to be written down until the mid 1970's due to their religious
beliefs, so this is a big step for them.
I have no basis for making comments specific to the Utes, but the
linkage between language and culture is a well known one. This kind of
connection where language was a part of the introduction to a culture's
mysteries is even a common theme in European cultures. If it's meant to
be the Ute material will come in its own time.
Ec