WikimediaBR-l February 2011

wikimediabr-l@lists.wikimedia.org

36 participants
93 discussions

[Wikimedia Brasil] Programa de Embaixadores na Esplanada...
by nevio carlos de alarcão 25 Feb '11

25 Feb '11

http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipédia:Esplanada/anúncios#Programa_de_Embai… -- {+}Nevinho Venha para o Movimento Colaborativo http://sextapoetica.com.br !!

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[Wikimedia Brasil] delecionismo 2, o retorno
by nevio carlos de alarcão 25 Feb '11

25 Feb '11

SINOPSE 1- Ale/Solstag publica artigo na FSP. Névio co-assina 2-Professor de literatura faz contato e se interessa em colaborar com wikipédia 2a-Névio compartilha com Solstag, que compartilha com Jaider 3-Jaider se envolve nas conversas e, após longo processo de explicação e licenciamento da obra, colabora incuindo livro do professor na wikisource 4-Névio inicia um artigo na wikipédia sobre o livro<http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pensar_é_preciso> 5-Artigo é proposto para eliminação semi rápida. -- {+}Nevinho Venha para o Movimento Colaborativo http://sextapoetica.com.br !!

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[Wikimedia Brasil] Programa embaixadores: mais uma universidade brasileira
by Everton Zanella Alvarenga 25 Feb '11

25 Feb '11

Caros, impulsionado pelo meu período de aumento de tempo de ócio, decidi me juntar ao programa embaixadores da Wikipédia. Coloquei a Universidade de São Paulo na lista e já enviei email para dois professores de física, com quem já conversei, rapidamente, pessoalmente hoje, marcando um dia em que posso conversar sobre a Wikipédia. Como irei nessa universidade uma ou duas vezes por semana, acho que poderei fazer ao menos alguma coisa alinhada ao projeto. No caso de ambos já possuírem conceitos formados sobre o projeto de modo que os impeçam de contribuir com a enciclopédia livre, vou conversar com eles sobre liberarem conteúdo online com licenças compatíveis para o reuso na Wikipédia. Já passei da fase de treinamente de embaixadores, mas me sinto apto a contribuir com esse projeto, ainda mais por ter sido um dos co-criadores do projeto Stoa, que visava o estímulo da produção de recursos educacionais abertos nessa universidade - na Wikipédia não poderão apagar minha página. : P Abraços, Tom

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[Wikimedia Brasil] [Urgente] Layout Quebrado da Wikipedia
by Diego Rabatone 25 Feb '11

25 Feb '11

http://en.wikipedia.org/ <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page> Gente, é só no meu navegador ou o layout (css provavelmente) da Wikipedia-EN está quebrado?!?!

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[Wikimedia Brasil] O espírito wiki e os capítulos da WMF - Re: Res: Chapters Meeting 2011
by Rodrigo Tetsuo Argenton 23 Feb '11

23 Feb '11

Eu criei uma página com o nome de Novo Capítulo http://br.wikimedia.org/wiki/Um_Novo_Cap%C3%ADtulo Bem simples, e nada provocativo, um pouco lúdico, e é algo como virando a página, só isso. Não não passa a impressão errada, se queremos participar das coisas de capítulo eles têm que nos aceitar como um capítulo, com moldes modernos, mas ainda como um capítulo. -- Rodrigo Tetsuo Argenton rodrigo.argenton(a)gmail.com +55 11 7971-8884

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[Wikimedia Brasil] PORT: The Missing Wikipedians
by Carolina Rossini 23 Feb '11

23 Feb '11

a pedidos e bem resumindo o artigo tenta discutir o tema sobre a estagnacao no crescimento do numero dos wikipedistas ...mas tenta focar nao na wikipedia-en, mas nas wikipedias de paises em desenvolvimento apresenta um examplo de Kenya e discute se somente o acesso a internet vai significar a possibilidade de inclusao desse povo como editores e leitores da wikipedia, como - em geral - se pensa (ja li coisas assim nas paginas do Meta...ate mesmo sobre o Brasil...) ai entra num debate relevante e atual para a lista ...o "deletismo", que hoje parece ser oficialmente chamado de wiki-lawyering ...pratica que ainda esta sob batalha em muitas wikipedias pelo mundo (ou seja, nao so os Brasileiros estao nesse momento de discussao)...ai ela apresenta um resultado de estudo que juntou dados de reversao e disse que parece que os "deletistas" estao ganhando "The Palo Alto Research Center group suggested that the ‘deletionists might have won’ when they found that the number of reverted edits has increased steadily, and that occasional editors experience a visibly greater resistance compared to high-frequency editors. According to Suh et al., ‘Since 2003, edits from occasional editors have been reverted (at) a higher rate than edits from prolific editors. Furthermore, this disparity of treatment of new edits from editors of different classes has been widening steadily over the years at the expense of low-frequency editors. We consider this as evidence of growing resistance from the Wikipedia community to new content, especially when the edits come from occasional editors’." (coloca no google translator) Ai, ela aponta uma citacao que considero muito importante.... According to Kollock, ‘a person is motivated to contribute valuable information to the group in the expectation that one will receive useful help and information in return that is, the motivation is an anticipated reciprocity’. e que ja apontei aqui...quando um contribui com boa vontade e conteudo aberto (e tempo) espera que seja bem tratado como uma questao de reciprocidade alem da reciprocidade aponta outras motivacoes, como reputacao, senso de eficiencia, etc...como motivadores da participacao e crescimento de editores em wikipedias pelo mundo ela conclui dizendo que mesmo existinfo wikipedias locais, em funcao dos motivadores acima e da estabilidade da wikipedia-en...pode ser que muita gente de paises em desenvolvimento acabe decidindo contribuir para a wikipedia-en e nao para wikipedia locais bem...ai esta o resumo relampago 2011/2/18 Cecilia Tanaka <cecilia.tanaka(a)gmail.com> > The Missing Wikipedians<http://hblog.org/writing/the-missing-wikipedians/> > > The Missing Wikipedians > > Download PDF > <http://makebuildplay.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/makmende_essay.pdf>or > view on Slideshare<http://www.slideshare.net/hfordsa/the-missing-wikipedians> > > Much has been said of the future of Wikipedia. Some have prophesied that > the online encyclopaedia will fail due to increasing spam. Others have said > that, as large parts of the world go online, Wikipedia might see a wave of > new editors as countries from Zambia to Indonesia begin to fill in > Wikipedia’s blank spots. In a project that aims to ‘make all human knowledge > accessible’, those blank spots can mean many things: the hundreds of > thousands of places that aren’t talked about on Wikipedia, the thousands of > languages that either don’t have their own encyclopaedia or are struggling > to build one, and the countless things that people know about their world > but aren’t in written form. > > This essay is concerned, not so much with the future of the English version > of Wikipedia (about which much of the prophesying occurs) but with the 277 > other language Wikipedias. Will this number shrink as editors grow tired of > their lonely pursuits, or will it grow as more of the world goes online? As > large parts of Africa go online, it is expected that they will start to edit > Wikipedia and that they will edit it in their own language. Both of these > assumptions may be incorrect. Firstly, there are a number of external and > internal limitations to this new wave of editors joining Wikipedia, and > secondly, the scale of smaller Wikipedias may mean that they are > over-shadowed by stronger motivations to edit the larger, more powerful > English version. > > *‘Makmende’s so huge, he can’t fit in Wikipedia[2]<http://hblog.org/writing/the-missing-wikipedians/#_ftn2>’ > * > > In mid-2010, a furore erupted in a small corner of the Internet. The facts > sounded all-too familiar: another group of Wikipedia editors fighting over > whether something was notable or not. The so-called ‘deletionists’ against > the ‘inclusionists’ – those who thought that the encyclopaedia needed to > retain a certain quality and that strict editorial control was necessary, > versus those who thought that Wikipedia’s goal is to be a different > encyclopaedia – one that is much broader and more global than any other > existing encyclopaedia. > > But a closer look at this blip on Wikipedia’s radar exposed some > interesting details – details that exposed this as a story that epitomises > Wikipedia’s current growth problems and the challenges it faces as it seeks > to ‘make all human knowledge accessible’. The frontline of this battle: a > page called ‘Makmende’ that was struggling to be born on the English > encyclopaedia. > > In March of 2010, Kenya had enjoyed what has been touted as its first viral > Internet sensation. While even Eastern Europe has had its share of singing > kittens and political remixes, this East African country had not enjoyed the > success that comes when the world recognises a local meme that captures the > imagination of those outside of it. The meme was based on an interesting > local hack of Hollywood culture that originated on the streets of Kenya in > the 1990s. > > The Swahili slang (sheng) word for ‘hero’, ‘Makmende’ originates from a > mispronunciation of Clint Eastwood’s phrase “Go ahead, make my day” (Mek ma > nday) – a phrase that became popular in the streets of Kenya in the 1990s > when a ‘bad guy wannabe would be called out and asked “Who do you think you > are? Makmende?”’ In early 2010, local band, ‘Just a Band’ resurrected the > fictional Kenyan superhero in the music video for their song *Ha-He*. In > the music video for their song, the band features Makmende beating up the > ‘bad guys’ and even ignoring the girl in a hilarious throwback to the > fictional character. > > What followed was a popular acknowledgement of Makmende that resonated > outwards from local Twitter users. Like other successful memes, Makmende > enabled people to participate in the joke and to thereby “own” a little > piece of the meme. According to local digital marketing strategist, Mark > Kaigwa, people either took popular Chuck Norris jokes and replaced them with > Makmende, or they created their own. Radio stations in Nairobi invited > people to call in with Makmende jokes when local journalists like Larry > Madowo noticed the attention that Makmende was getting on Twitter, and the > Kenyan twittasphere seemed to be buzzing with their own Chuck Norris. > > In the midst of enthusiasm, Makmende fans tried to create a Wikipedia page > about the meme. Wikipedia admins repeatedly deleted the page, initially on > ‘criteria for speedy deletion’ G1 (‘Patent nonsense, meaningless, or > incomprehensible’), then G12 (‘Unambiguous copyright infringement)’ and > finally G3 (‘Pure Vandalism’). > > Wikipedia editors claimed that the article needed to be deleted because > there existed ‘no reliable sources, and no claims of notability’. Pointing > to the lack of sources relating to African culture online, user, Cicinne > came back with this retort: ‘The problem is that there is hardly any content > on African influences in the 90′s and 80′s which may make it hard to make > the connections’. > > On March 24, the Wall Street Journal’s Cassandra Vinograd commented on the > story, reporting that ‘Kenyan bloggers and Tweeters (had) seized on the > video and launched a campaign for the man they’re calling Kenya’s very own > Chuck Norris – complete with one liners about Makmende’s superhero skills > and prowess.’ According to the WSJ, Makmende had drawn more than 24,300 hits > in the week since its release and had collected 19,200 fans on Facebook. > > The article was deleted once again, prompting Ethan Zuckerman to write a > blog post about the systemic bias operating in the encyclopaedia community > that would delete the stub: > > The one that’s currently under development followed a classic Wikipedia > structure – it went up as a brief stub, and has accreted more content in the > past few hours. What concerned me is that the attempt to delete that stub > argued that the article was unsourced – actually, it was quite well sourced, > including a reference to a Wall Street Journal online publication and five > weblogs. Perhaps the user who nominated for deletion made a mistake. Or > perhaps he acted in bad faith, trying to avoid a battle over notability and > tried a different tactic to see the page removed. > If Wikipedia wants to make progress in improving areas where it’s weak – > i.e., if it wants to address issues of systemic bias – the community needs > to expand to include more Wikipedians from the developing world. Deleting > three versions of an article important to Kenyans and trying to delete a > fourth doesn’t send a strong message that Wikipedia is the open and > welcoming community you and I both want it to be. > > After being covered on CNN, Fast Company and numerous location Kenyan > publications (most of which are not online), the article was eventually > voted ‘keep’ citing the WSJ post as proof of notability required to survive > and move past the deletion debates. The question then became: if something > needs to be ‘notable’ to get on Wikipedia, by whose standards are we judging > notability? Is it about numbers, about reputation? Can this be measured? And > would this have been such a debate if it had occurred elsewhere in the > world? > > This story epitomises the challenges facing Wikipedia as it comes up > against the scope of a traditional encyclopaedia. Ethan Zuckerman summed it > up as follows: > > Most Wikipedians seemed to accept the idea that different languages and > cultures might want to include different topics in their encyclopedias. But > what happens when we share a language but not a culture? Is there a point > where Makmende is sufficiently important to English-speaking Kenyans that he > merits a Wikipedia page even if most English-speakers couldn’t care less? Or > is there an implicit assumption that an English-language Wikipedia is > designed to enshrine landmarks of shared historical and cultural importance > to people who share a language? * * > > Interestingly, Makmende does not exist in the Swahili version of Wikipedia, > and the battle to put Makmende on Wikipedia came just two months after > Kenyans were being incentivized by Google to create Swahili Wikipedia pages. > There seems to be a disconnect between where ordinary Kenyans want their > cultural narratives to live, and where outsiders imagine it. > > This story doesn’t only represent a clash between the inclusionists and > deletionists in Wikipedia. It also reflects key issues about the > relationship between different Wikipedias in countries where English > dominates as the written language; about the motivations of Wikipedians on > the edges of the Wikipedia network; and about tensions between existing > policies, the goal of the encyclopaedia and the realities of historical > knowledge in the developing world. > > *Background: Wikipedia growth is slowing * > > In August of 2006, Diego Torquemada drew a statistical model that predicted > the future growth of English Wikipedia to reach 6 million articles by the > end of 2008. This model was based on the premise that more content leads to > more traffic which leads to more edits which generates more content on the > encyclopaedia. Wikipedia had enjoyed exponential growth until that point, > with the number of articles doubling annually from 2002 to 2006. > > Torquemada could not know that Wikipedia growth had reached its peak in > 2006 when he developed his model. At a rate of 60,000 articles per month in > mid-2006, the number of new articles would start to follow a downward trend > reaching the point of around 35,000 new articles per month by the end of > 2009. The number of edits similarly reached a peak in 2007 with 6 million > edits and active editors at 800,000. At the end of 2009, the number of edits > had levelled out to about 5.5 million and active editors were down to around > 700,000. > > The slowing growth of Wikipedia has been the subject of a number of news > articles, as Internet commentators predict the slow demise of Wikipedia, and > Wikipedians fight back, saying that they are merely “consolidating”. > > In trying to understand the slowing growth of Wikipedia, researchers at > Palo Alto Research Center took a closer look at the data and interpreted an > ecological model to explain the slowing growth. Suh, Convertino, Chi and > Pirolli likened the stagnation to a Darwinian ‘struggle for existence’ in > the encyclopaedia, noting that ‘as populations hit the limits of the > ecology, advantages go to members of the population that have competitive > dominance over others’. > > Suh et al argued that the ‘resource limitations’ can be likened to limited > opportunities to make novel contributions and that the consequences of these > increasing limitations will manifest itself in increased patterns of > conflict and dominance. Wikipedians, it seemed, had covered all the “easy” > articles and now had “nothing left to talk about”. > > *Nothing left to talk about? * > > Is Wikipedia really ‘running out of things to talk about’? Suh et al > suggested that the number of Wikipedia articles could increase due to the > growth of new knowledge as a result of new scientific studies and new events > but that the size of the encyclopaedia was still levelling out. > > Others like geographer, Mark Graham deride claims that Wikipedia is > ‘running out things to write about’ for other reasons. Mapping the presence > of geotags on Wikipedia, Graham found that there are still ‘whole continents > that remain a virtual “terra incognita”’ on Wikipedia and that if these > places were given the same detailed treatment as places in Western Europe > and North America, then Wikipedia is only just getting started. > > *New Wikipedians as the developing world comes online?* > > Graham suggests that, ‘It may be that when broadband reaches more parts of > Africa – helped by the landfall of superfast cables in August – that more > people there will start discovering Wikipedia, and that the site will see a > second explosion of new editors and articles about places that have so far > been ignored’. > > But it is doubtful whether Internet access alone will make people in > developing countries contribute to Wikipedia. In his study of twelve > different Wikipedia language versions, Morten Rask found that although > ‘there is a linear relation between the level of internet penetration and > reach of the Wikipedia network, there is a stronger linear relationship > between the level of human development and internet penetration’. > > Rask used the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development > Index in his study as a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, > education, and standard of living for countries worldwide. He was interested > in finding out whether Wikipedia was only for ‘rich countries’ in order to > understand ‘who is open to work together in the sharing of knowledge’. > > Rask’s findings contradict the so-called ‘techno utopians’ who have claimed > that the mere existence of either the Internet or information and > communications technology have the ability to lift developing countries out > of poverty. Techno utopians include commentators like Don Tapscott who > coined the phrase *wikinomics* to describe ‘deep changes in the structure > and modus operandi of the corporation and our economy, based on new > competitive principles such as openness, peering, sharing, and acting > globally’. > > Tapscott believes that we are living through a ‘participation revolution > (that) opens up new possibilities for billions of people to play active > roles in their workplaces, communities, national democracies, and the global > economy at large. This has profound social benefits, including the > opportunity to make governments more accountable and lift millions of people > out of poverty’. > > Access to Wikipedia’s ‘revolutionary’ potential is an extension of this > techno utopian vision. Investigating the ‘reach and richness’ of Wikipedia, > Rask provides a solid critique of statements like Tapscott’s that ‘all one > needs is a computer, a network connection, and a bright spark of initiative > and creativity to join in the economy’ by showing that ‘Internet penetration > is not the only complete and sufficient variable’ for development. Analysing > data from twelve Wikipedia language versions, and mapping it to variables > such as the country’s Human Development Index and broadband penetration, > Rask was able to show that human development variables were much more > critical to participation in Wikipedia than broadband access. > > *Internal limitations* > > Apart from the external limitations of human development and broadband > penetration, Wikipedians on the edges of the network also face a number of > internal challenges that reflect a growing resistance within Wikipedia to > new content. As those from developing countries come online and try to edit > the encyclopedia, a number of conflicts have arisen due to tensions between > so-called ‘inclusionists’ and ‘deletionists’ in the encyclopaedia. > > ‘Inclusionists’ are Wikipedians who would rather see more articles – even > if they are short and/or poorly written, while ‘deletionists’ are concerned > with quality, believing that it is more important to have less, good quality > articles than more poorly written articles with questionable notability. > > In an article entitled, ‘The battle for Wikipedia’s soul’, The Economist > writes: ‘The behaviour of Wikipedia’s self-appointed deletionist guardians, > who excise anything that does not meet their standards, justifying their > actions with a blizzard of acronyms, is now known as “wiki-lawyering”’. > > The Palo Alto Research Center group suggested that the ‘deletionists might > have won’ when they found that the number of reverted edits has increased > steadily, and that occasional editors experience a visibly greater > resistance compared to high-frequency editors. > > According to Suh et al., ‘Since 2003, edits from occasional editors have > been reverted (at) a higher rate than edits from prolific editors. > Furthermore, this disparity of treatment of new edits from editors of > different classes has been widening steadily over the years at the expense > of low-frequency editors. We consider this as evidence of growing resistance > from the Wikipedia community to new content, especially when the edits come > from occasional editors’. > > * * > > *Public goods and the costs of contribution* > > If Wikipedia is available in Swahili, and the effort required to start a > Swahili page is lower than on the English version, why was the Kenyan > community so determined that the Makmende article exist on the English > version of Wikipedia? > > Clues to the answer can be found in debates about public goods. Wikipedia > can be considered to be a public good since it is non-rivalrous (one > person’s use of Wikipedia doesn’t deplete another person’s use of it) and > non-excludable (no one can be effectively excluded from using Wikipedia, if > they’re online at least). Peter Kollock, writing in the late 90s about > public goods and how their value shifts when it is placed online, declared > that all online community interaction creates public goods and that this is > a remarkable property of online interaction and unprecedented in the history > of human society. > > Unprecedented as it is, people still need to be motivated to contribute to > public goods. The question with regard to the Makmende case is: If people > will create public goods when motivations are higher than costs of > contributing, what are the relative costs for contributing to English vs > Swahili Wikipedia? > > It is clear from the Makmende example that Wikipedia newbies must navigate > a growing bureaucracy and complicated policies when dealing with English > Wikipedians, many of whom would rather not have to deal with any more > articles to improve. This creates a high barrier to entry that must be > offset by higher motivational factors in order to incentivise volunteer > activity. > > If the costs of contribution in terms of centralised control, bureaucracy > and the lack of ‘reliable’ sources are higher in the English Wikipedia, then > motivations for contributing must have been significantly higher for Kenyans > when contributing Makmende to the English version. > > In his paper on ‘The Economies of Online Cooperation’ Kollock notes four > motivations for providing public goods including anticipated reciprocity, > reputation, sense of efficacy and need. > > *Reciprocity* > > According to Kollock, ‘a person is motivated to contribute valuable > information to the group in the expectation that one will receive useful > help and information in return that is, the motivation is an anticipated > reciprocity’. > > The promise of reciprocity on the English Wikipedia is relatively high > based on the scale of contribution. Even though contributors account for > less than 1% of users, the scale of the encyclopaedia means that the numbers > of active contributors is about 40,000 active editors for 26 per million > speakers versus Swahili Wikipedia with 0.4 editors per million speakers > (about 20 active editors). According to Phares Kariuki, he created the > Makmende page because there are few opportunities to create a Wikipedia > entry that would be populated quickly. Kariuki said that he isn’t a regular > Wikipedia contributor and that the last time he contributed was many years > ago. He points to the small numbers who care enough to promote the page as a > problem. “If I started a page on my high school it would take six years to > build up.” Kariuki had tried to edit before but didn’t have much success. “I > am a heavy user like most of us here in Nairobi but there’s never really > been motivation to become an editor before,” he said. > > Wikipedians on the English Wikipedia are relatively assured that others > will continue to contribute, whereas contributors to smaller Wikipedias must > understand that numbers of editors are few and that Wikipedia may shut down > Wikipedias where growth has stagnated and where they have become overrun by > spam. > > Interestingly, Eric Goldman’s claim that ‘Wikipedia will fail in 5 years’ > because of increasing spam has been more prophetic for smaller Wikipedias > than the English Wikipedia. According to Goldman, ‘free editability’ > (allowing anyone to edit) is Wikipedia’s Achilles’ heel. The sheer scale of > the English Wikipedia has won out against spammers in English Wikipedia, but > smaller Wikipedias must face a continual battle – especially when their > numbers are so small in comparison to the spammers. > > *Reputation* > > Kollock noted that the effect of contributions on one’s reputation is > another possible motivation. ‘High quality information, impressive technical > details in one’s answers, a willingness to help others, and elegant writing > can al work to increase one’s prestige in the community,’ he found. > > It is interesting to note that the reputation motivation requires that > there are people to impress in the community. Because of the small scale of > Swahili Wikipedia, for example, the fact that one can gain prestige from the > group might not necessarily be positive if the real power lies outside the > group. The English version of Wikipedia receives 9 million views per hour, > whereas the Swahili version gets 1,700 with the effect that one’s reputation > is much more highly valued on the English version of Wikipedia. > > In addition, the content of the article is noteworthy. A description of > Kenya’s first Internet meme, it can be seen as Kenya’s unique contribution > to the global phenomenon of Internet memes. This wasn’t an article about the > British parliamentary system or the life cycle of bees – it was an article > that positioned itself in the global framework of Internet memes. ‘Look, > world,’ Kenyans seemed to be saying, ‘You have your Internet memes. Now we > do too!’ > > If one looks at this through the information sharing lens, one can make a > parallel with the fact that people are more likely to contribute expertise > rather than organisational knowledge because of its unique character and > because it shows something of their unique nature. Kenyans were sharing this > information specifically on the English Wikipedia because it was unique in > the global sense and because they were about to contribute their expertise > on a subject that they had direct experience with for the first time. > > *Sense of efficacy* > > The third possible motivation proposed by Kollock is the sense that a > person contributes valuable information because the act results in a sense > of efficacy, that is, ‘a sense that she has some effect on this > environment’. > > Certainly, those editing Swahili Wikipedia must have a much larger sense > that they are affecting change in the environment since their edits are much > more likely to be accepted, and they are more likely able to develop > policies and rules in the emerging Wikipedia. Contrast this with the fact > that new content on English Wikipedia will most likely be reverted and one > recognises how one’s sense of efficacy on the environment is affected by > Wikipedia’s growing isolation from new editors. > > From another perspective, however, it can be said that the sense of > efficacy would be so much greater on the English Wikipedia since the content > of the article is so unique and would have an important impact in > diversifying the range of material on the English Wikipedia. In this sense, > even if the costs of contributing to English Wikipedia are higher, and even > if it is much more difficult to have an effect on the environment, the > resulting efficacy is large because it is a unique contribution. > > *Need* > > According to Kollock, the fourth motivation is altruistic in the sense that > individuals value the outcomes of others. ‘One may produce and contribute a > public good for the simple reason that a person or the group as a whole has > a need for it,’ he says. Here, there may be a stark difference between the > need for Swahili language content on Wikipedia as perceived by the > international community and the need within Kenya. > > Kenya’s official languages are Swahili and English, with most Kenyans being > trilingual, speaking their tribal language as well as Swahili and English. > English is the lingua franca of the global business community and arguably > that of the Internet. > > Despite 50 million speakers, the Swahili Wikipedia has only about 17,000 > articles and 400,000 editors, and Swahili is considered more of a spoken > language than a written language. Thus, Kenyans may not regard the need to > develop a Swahili encyclopaedia as high when they are trying to improve > their English in order to become more established in global business. > > *Conclusion* > > Unhindered by long print publication schedules, Wikipedia is able to > reflect events and incidents as soon as they happen, rather than recording > only those that a smaller group of experts decide is important enough. As > broadband access grows in large parts of Africa and Asia, Wikipedia could > expand to include a massive new corpus of previously unrecognized > viewpoints. > > Recent studies have shown how power within Wikipedia is consolidating and > that attempts to broaden the scope of the encyclopaedia are often met with > aggressive deletionism. Wikipedia is said to be ‘revolutionary’ because it > is written by ‘ordinary people’ rather than ‘experts’, but whether experts > or ordinary people, Wikipedia still reflects the perspective of a small, > homogenous, geographically close community. > > Although the costs of contributing to smaller Wikipedias are arguably > lower, people in developing countries like Kenya see the English Wikipedia > as the relevant venue for articles that show Kenya’s unique contribution to > global phenomena. The motivations for contributing in English Wikipedia are > therefore much greater than contributing to the Swahili version, but it is > unlikely that the vast holes in geographical and cultural content will be > filled when the costs of contribution are so large. > > My conclusion is that, far from having nothing left to talk about, > Wikipedia has a number of holes, but that the homophily of the current > network is coming up against its need to expand and diversify. Without a > strategy for dealing with local notability, Wikipedia will continue to > battle to overcome its impediments to growth and will ultimately fail to > realise more diverse, global participation. > > *Bibliography* > > Angwin, J., & Fowler, G. A. (2009, November 27). Volunteers Log Off as > Wikipedia Ages – WSJ.com. *WSJ.com*. Retrieved from > http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125893981183759969.html > > Butler, B., Joyce, E., & Pike, J. (2008). Don’t look now, but we’ve created > a bureaucracy. In *Proceeding of the twenty-sixth annual CHI conference on > Human factors in computing systems – CHI ’08* (p. 1101). Presented at the > Proceeding of the twenty-sixth annual CHI conference, Florence, Italy. > doi:10.1145/1357054.1357227 > > Constant, D., Kiesler, S., & Sproull, L. (1994). What’s Mine Is Ours, or Is > It? A Study of Attitudes about Information Sharing. *Information Systems > Research*, *5*(4), 400-421. doi:10.1287/isre.5.4.400 > > Ethnologue report for language code: swh. (n.d.). . Retrieved May 10, 2010, > from http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=swh > > Goldman, E. (2005, December 5). Technology & Marketing Law Blog: Wikipedia > Will Fail Within 5 Years. *Wikipedia Will Fail Within 5 Years*. Retrieved > May 10, 2010, from > http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2005/12/wikipedia_will.htm > > Graham, M. (2009, December 2). Wikipedia’s known unknowns. Retrieved from > http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/dec/02/wikipedia-known-unknowns-g… > > Graham, M. (2010, April 9). Mapping Wikipedia Biographies. * > floatingsheep.org*. Retrieved May 9, 2010, from > http://www.floatingsheep.org/2010/04/mapping-wikipedia-biographies.html > > Johnson, B. (2009, August 12). Wikipedia enters a new chapter. *The > Guardian*. Retrieved from > http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/aug/12/wikipedia-deletionist-incl… > > Kemibaro, M. (2010, March 23). Is Makmende Kenya’s first “viral” Internet > sensation? Retrieved May 10, 2010, from > http://www.moseskemibaro.com/2010/03/23/is-makmende-kenyas-first-viral-inte… > > Kiswahili Wikipedia Challenge, sponsored by Google. (n.d.). . Retrieved > from http://www.google.com/events/kiswahili-wiki/ > > Kollock, P. (1999). The Economies of Online Cooperation: Gifts and Public > Goods in Cyberspace. In *Communities in Cyberspace* (pp. 239, 220). > Routledge. Retrieved from > http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/kollock/papers/economies.htm > > Modelling Wikipedia’s growth. (n.d.). . Wikipedia page, . Retrieved May 9, > 2010, from > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Modelling_Wikipedia%27s_growth > > Nosowitz, D. (2010, March 24). Kenya’s First Viral Music Video: An > Auto-Tuned, Blaxploitation-Themed Epic. *fastcompany.com*. Retrieved May > 8, 2010, from > http://www.fastcompany.com/1596460/kenyas-first-viral-music-video-an-autotu… > ? > > Rask, M. (2007). The Richness and Reach of Wikinomics: Is the Free > Web-Based Encyclopedia Wikipedia Only for the Rich Countries? by Morten > Rask. Presented at the Joint Conference of The International Scoiety of > Marketing Development and the Macromarketing Society. Retrieved from > http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=996158 > > Suh, B., Convertino, G., Chi, E. H., & Pirolli, P. (2009). The singularity > is not near. In *Proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Wikis > and Open Collaboration – WikiSym ’09* (p. 1). Presented at the the 5th > International Symposium, Orlando, Florida. doi:10.1145/1641309.1641322 > > Tapscott, D. (2006). *Wikinomics : how mass collaboration changes > everything*. New York: Portfolio. > > The Economist. (2008, March 6). The battle for Wikipedia’s soul. *The > Economist*. > > Torquemada, D. (2006, August 3). Model of English Wikipeda: Predictions > until December 31, 2008. Model, . Retrieved May 9, 2010, from > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wikigrow.png > > United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). (n.d.). Human Development > Reports (HDR). Retrieved May 10, 2010, from > http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/ > > Vinograd, C. (2010, March 24). Kenya Launches Country’s First Viral Music > Video – Digits – WSJ. *Wall Street Journal Blogs*. Retrieved May 10, 2010, > from > http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2010/03/24/kenya-launches-country%E2%80%99s-fir… > > Wikimedia Foundation. (2009, November 26). Wikipedia’s Volunteer Story. *Wikimedia > Blog*. Retrieved May 10, 2010, from > http://blog.wikimedia.org/2009/11/26/wikipedias-volunteer-story/ > > Wikipedia authors. (n.d.). Makmende Wikipedia Page. In *Wikipedia*. > Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makmende > > Wikipedia authors. (n.d.). Systemic bias on Wikipedia. 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Retrieved May 8, 2010, from > http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2010/03/24/makmendes-so-huge-he-cant-fit… > ------------------------------ > > [2] <http://hblog.org/writing/the-missing-wikipedians/#_ftnref2> This was > the headline of a blog post by Ethan Zuckerman > http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2010/03/24/makmendes-so-huge-he-cant-fit… > > -- > "Discordo daquilo que dizes, mas defenderei até a morte o teu direito de o > dizeres". - Voltaire > > _______________________________________________ > WikimediaBR-l mailing list > WikimediaBR-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimediabr-l > >

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[Wikimedia Brasil] Programa de embaixadores da wikipédia
by nevio carlos de alarcão 23 Feb '11

23 Feb '11

Caros, saiu um recurso muito útil para explicar como funcionam as páginas de discussão na wikipédia. Está em inglês, alguém sabe como podemos traduzir? Mesmo em inglês acredito que dá pra usar, dando pausa e explicando... Pode ser visto aqui.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia_basics_-_Talk_pages.ogv> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wikipedia_basics_-_Talk_pages.ogv>E quem puder ajudar na tradução... http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipédia:Embaixadores -- {+}Nevinho Venha para o Movimento Colaborativo http://sextapoetica.com.br !!

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[Wikimedia Brasil] Chapters Meeting 2011
by Pietro Roveri 23 Feb '11

23 Feb '11

Ninguém do Brasil foi convidado? http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Conference_2011/Participants

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[Wikimedia Brasil] volunario para a Fundacao Roberto Marinho
by Carolina Rossini 23 Feb '11

23 Feb '11

Pessoal, Tivemos uma reunião com a Fundação Roberto Marinho e foi muito legal. Eles tem vários projetos na área de educação pelo Brasil, incluindo com gestores de saúde, lideres comunitários, questões sobre meio-ambiente, formação de comunidades online a praticas de consenso e solucao de controversias etc etc etc (todos sob a bandeira do Telecurso digital) Na reunião discutimos muitas coisas, e entre elas a inclusão, no currículo de alguns cursos, do modulo de uso e publicação de artigos na Wikipedia e uso do software MidiaWiki. Uma ideia para o futuro seria a expansao da relacao com eles para que a Fundação doe conteúdos para o Commons e outros (ainda algo na esfera do "possível plano para o futuro") Ao final, ficamos de verificar se algum voluntário gostaria de ir ao Rio para dar um treinamento para eles em tudo isso. Ou seja, uma mistura do papel de "ambassador" com o uso corporativo do MediaWiki. Alguém se candidata? Ai podemos organizar esse "projetinho" e seguir o contato com eles. Abs., Carol e Jessie

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[Wikimedia Brasil] Fwd: Resumo semanal
by nevio carlos de alarcão 22 Feb '11

22 Feb '11

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