Thomas Corell wrote:
I see footnotes or end notes in paper-based publishing and in an academic context, but never seen a encyclopedia with end notes.
I'm pretty sure that I *have* seen encyclopedia entries with end notes, but can't swear for sure.
Don't forget possible targets like publishing Wikipedia in paper-based form. Take a proper paper-based encyclopedia and try to imagine how bad end-notes would look like.
This argument doesn't hold up, for the following reasons:
(1) The last I heard, there wasn't much chance that Wikipedia would be published anytime soon in a paper-based form.
(2) Even if it *were* published in a paper-based form, it would be a trivial task to write code that would strip out end notes if so desired. Something like this would have to be done in any case for Wiki links and external hyperlinks. (Underlined text in different colors ALSO looks bad in a paper-based document, especially when there's no way to click on them and go to the hyperlinked resource.)
(3) Actually, end note tags might make it *easier* to produce a paper-based document. Right now, many articles contain embedded hyperlinks that point to URLs outside of Wikipedia. Exporting those articles for use in a paper document would require someone to make a decision about what to do with those embedded hyperlinks. Do you just ignore them? Do you put them in parentheses in the middle of the article, where they would break up the text and make everything ugly? Do you stick all the embedded hyperlinks at the bottom of the article, as "pseudo end notes"? End note markup tags would give the *authors* of articles a way of indicating which of these choices they prefer, rather than leaving it up to some deterministic algorithm.
Sheldon Rampton wrote:
This argument doesn't hold up, for the following reasons: (1) The last I heard, there wasn't much chance that Wikipedia would be published anytime soon in a paper-based form.
I did not know that. But nevertheless I still try to convert articles to LaTeX -- started with the idea to create a printable version of the german Wikipedia instructions (Handbuch). The intention is, if it can handle the instructions, it can handle articles as well.
(2) Even if it *were* published in a paper-based form, it would be a trivial task to write code that would strip out end notes if so desired. Something like this would have to be done in any case for Wiki links and external hyperlinks. (Underlined text in different colors ALSO looks bad in a paper-based document, especially when there's no way to click on them and go to the hyperlinked resource.)
Ok, paper-based meens for me also a PDF Version, and PDF can handle Links. Well Latex can handle footnotes too, but I think it will look *shiver* bad (in an enciclopedia context).
(3) [...] Do you put them in parentheses in the middle of the article, where they would break up the text and make everything ugly? Do you stick all the embedded hyperlinks at the bottom of the article, as "pseudo end notes"?
Did not seen much from other wiki's, but in the german wikipedia the external links are usually at the end of an article (section ===Links===). It's nice to have them, but in a printed (non PDF) Version I would skip them. Befor the printer is cold the link changed ;)
I don't have any problems skipping or integrating anchors, footnotes and whatever in a printed version or in the online wiki (see democracy). I don't see the need for it, in an enciclopedia. Most of the books (especially enciclopedias) in the world works pretty well without footnotes and/or anchors ;)
Smurf
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