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
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
Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/... To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org
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: Riskermailto:risker.wp@gmail.com Sent: Saturday, September 18, 2021 5:51 PM To: Wikimedia Mailing Listmailto:wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org 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.commailto: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
_______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.orgmailto:wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/... To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.orgmailto:wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org
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 risker.wp@gmail.com *Sent: *Saturday, September 18, 2021 5:51 PM *To: *Wikimedia Mailing List wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org *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
Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/... To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org
Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/... To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org
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-emb...
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Guide/Task_force...
From: Eduardo Testartmailto:etestart@gmail.com Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2021 12:31 PM To: Wikimedia Mailing Listmailto:wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org 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.commailto: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: Riskermailto:risker.wp@gmail.com Sent: Saturday, September 18, 2021 5:51 PM To: Wikimedia Mailing Listmailto:wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org 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.commailto: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
_______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.orgmailto:wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/... To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.orgmailto:wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org
_______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.orgmailto:wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/... To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.orgmailto:wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org
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
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Directory/Histor... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_United_States_presidenti...
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-emb...
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Guide/Task_force...
*From: *Eduardo Testart etestart@gmail.com *Sent: *Sunday, September 19, 2021 12:31 PM *To: *Wikimedia Mailing List wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org *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 risker.wp@gmail.com *Sent: *Saturday, September 18, 2021 5:51 PM *To: *Wikimedia Mailing List wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org *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
Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/... To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org
Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/... To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org
Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/... To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org
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
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Directory/Histor... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_United_States_presidenti...
On Tue, 21 Sept 2021 at 01:45, Adam Sobieski <adamsobieski@hotmail.commailto: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-emb...
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Guide/Task_force...
From: Eduardo Testartmailto:etestart@gmail.com Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2021 12:31 PM To: Wikimedia Mailing Listmailto:wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org 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.commailto: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: Riskermailto:risker.wp@gmail.com Sent: Saturday, September 18, 2021 5:51 PM To: Wikimedia Mailing Listmailto:wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org 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.commailto: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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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
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Directory/Histor... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_United_States_presidenti...
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-emb...
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Guide/Task_force...
*From: *Eduardo Testart etestart@gmail.com *Sent: *Sunday, September 19, 2021 12:31 PM *To: *Wikimedia Mailing List wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org *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 risker.wp@gmail.com *Sent: *Saturday, September 18, 2021 5:51 PM *To: *Wikimedia Mailing List wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org *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
Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/... To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org
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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
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Directory/Histor... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_United_States_presidenti...
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-emb...
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Guide/Task_force...
From: Eduardo Testart Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2021 12:31 PM To: Wikimedia Mailing List 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 To: Wikimedia Mailing List 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
Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/... To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org
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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
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Directory/Histor... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_United_States_presidenti...
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-emb...
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Guide/Task_force...
From: [Eduardo Testart](mailto:etestart@gmail.com) Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2021 12:31 PM To: [Wikimedia Mailing List](mailto:wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org) 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](mailto:risker.wp@gmail.com) Sent: Saturday, September 18, 2021 5:51 PM To: [Wikimedia Mailing List](mailto:wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org) 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
Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/... To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org
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By the way, and not being completely off-topic. Thanks to the "Content translation" tool, the integration of Elia there (wich has neural translation between 6 languages, including Basque) and automatic templates developed by the Catalan wikimedians... I translated this article about the Canadian federal election in, exactly, 8 minutes.
https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021eko_Kanadako_hauteskunde_federalak
The coverage in wikidata is still poor, but everything will appear soon there, automagically.
I encourage smaller Wikipedias to have automatic templates, it makes live easier. ________________________________ From: Jane Darnell jane023@gmail.com Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2021 3:53 PM To: Wikimedia Mailing List wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: [Wikimedia-l] Re: Encyclopedic Coverage of American Elections
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.commailto: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.commailto:risker.wp@gmail.com> Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2021 8:14 AM To: Wikimedia Mailing List <wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.orgmailto: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
[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Directory/Histor... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_United_States_presidenti...
On Tue, 21 Sept 2021 at 01:45, Adam Sobieski <adamsobieski@hotmail.commailto: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-emb...
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Guide/Task_force...
From: Eduardo Testartmailto:etestart@gmail.com Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2021 12:31 PM To: Wikimedia Mailing Listmailto:wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org 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.commailto: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: Riskermailto:risker.wp@gmail.com Sent: Saturday, September 18, 2021 5:51 PM To: Wikimedia Mailing Listmailto:wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org 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.commailto: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
_______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.orgmailto:wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/... To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.orgmailto:wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org
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_______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.orgmailto:wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/... To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.orgmailto:wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.orgmailto:wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/... To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.orgmailto:wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/... To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org
Hoi, The point is not that shenanigans in US elections are not worthy of an article, the point is that our bias towards the USA is such that we do not even know who the government ministers are of countries like Eswatini. Countries most "first worlders" do not know to pinpoint on a map.
It is the same as with male scientists; it is not that they are not notable, it is that female scientists, equally notable, are not given a place in our Wikipedias. Thanks, GerardM
On Tue, 21 Sept 2021 at 15:55, Jane Darnell jane023@gmail.com wrote:
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
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Directory/Histor... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_United_States_presidenti...
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-emb...
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Council/Guide/Task_force...
*From: *Eduardo Testart etestart@gmail.com *Sent: *Sunday, September 19, 2021 12:31 PM *To: *Wikimedia Mailing List wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org *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 risker.wp@gmail.com *Sent: *Saturday, September 18, 2021 5:51 PM *To: *Wikimedia Mailing List wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org *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
Wikimedia-l mailing list -- wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines and https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia-l Public archives at https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org/... To unsubscribe send an email to wikimedia-l-leave@lists.wikimedia.org
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Thank you to Risker/Anne for the information about existing and relevant WikiProjects. I joined the WikiProject on United States Presidential elections.
Also, thanks to Jane for raising those concerns. I made a note of them and noted to consider and discuss them at the WikiProject.
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.
For anyone interested in these topics, I have started a discussion at the WikiProject’s talk page on these topics, Group activities and the 2024 Presidential election: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_United_States_presi... .
The post there broaches ideas to improve encyclopedic coverage of elections and proposes group tasks of a preparatory nature with respect to future elections:
Hello. I would like to share some ideas with respect to the encyclopedic coverage of the upcoming 2024 Presidential election and with respect to group activities.
Firstly, we can consider encyclopedia articles about election tactics and strategies and hyperlinking to these articles from elections’ main articles.
Secondly, hot-button, third-rail, dog-whistle, and wedge issues, and other uncouth occurrences can be curtailed by enhancing encyclopedic, and subsequently historical, coverage of these occurrences. Unbiased and unblinking encyclopedic coverage can contribute to discouraging uncouth events and happenings. This includes coverage of such events and happenings which occur in the news, on the Web, and on social media. We can consider encyclopedia articles about election-relevant events and happenings and hyperlinking to these articles from elections’ main articles.
Thirdly, with respect to group activities, I propose that we could discuss how to improve the encyclopedic coverage of the 2024 Presidential election in advance. I also propose that we could, together, design a generic template or prototype of a collection of encyclopedia articles in advance. That is, we could brainstorm, discuss, sketch, and revise an interconnected collection of articles about aspects of a generic Presidential election, establishing their main structures and main outlines, utilizing placeholder text. As envisioned, such a generic template or prototype would be convenient when starting the actual encyclopedia articles for the actual election.
Enhancing the encyclopedic coverage of the upcoming 2024 Presidential election would inspire the improvement of the encyclopedic coverage of other, subsequent elections, federal, state, and local. I am optimistic about the potential to improve elections by enhancing the encyclopedic coverage of them here on Wikipedia.
Thank you. I look forward to discussing these ideas with you.
Thanks again for the information, concerns, and discussion. I am looking forward to contributing at the WikiProject.
Best regards, Adam
wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org