[Foundation-l] Incubator Wiki for New Wikimedia Projects

[Robert Scott Horning]

Ray Saintonge wrote:

> Anthony DiPierro wrote:
>
>> On 11/11/05, Robert Scott Horning <robert_horning at netzero.net> wrote:
>>  
>>
>>> Anthony DiPierro wrote:
>>>    
>>
>>> I do want to emphasis, however, that Wikibooks is not the place to do
>>> this either.  This is a need for a whole new project altogether.
>>>   
>>
>> Wikibooks isn't the place for incubation of new projects, I agree. 
>> And I can see the argument that Wikiversity goes beyond the original
>> scope of Wikibooks.  Essentially I feel that Wikiversity is a superset
>> of Wikibooks.  For that reason I don't really feel comfortable saying
>> that Wikiversity should be a separate project, I'd rather see
>> Wikibooks expanded to include other materials.  But I'd be willing to
>> concede that point, in fact I essentially have.
>>
>> As for Wikijunior, well, I find it hard to see how that's not a book,
>> but that's a completely different discussion.
>>
> The discussions for Wikiversity and Wikijunior have been going on for 
> some time already.  Whatever one thinks of them, I don't think that 
> their issues are the kind that would be solved in a seed project.  The 
> purpose of a seed project would be primarily to see if there is enough 
> interest to sustain an otherwise acceptable project.  The problems 
> connected with Wikiversity and Wikijunior are different; I have no 
> doubt that if started both could easily meet the participation 
> critera..  Neither project should be a part of this discussion.
>
The problem with Wikiversity and Wikijunior is that they should have 
been new proposed Wikimedia projects instead of something different. 
 Wikijunior, IMHO, was "forced" upon Wikibooks, and with the plan to 
turn Wikijunior more into a kids version of Wikipedia, the connection 
with Wikibooks is far less than what it could have been in the past. 
 Wikijunior is precisely what the seed wiki would be about... to get a 
community going on a concept and see if there will be some viability for 
keeping that community going.  Many Wikicities projects only last a few 
weeks or months before they die out, and it would be a good idea to see 
if that would happen before something gets the status of a full 
Wikimedia sister project.  This seed wiki can provide that objective 
view about some project idea.

Why Wikijunior in particular is a part of this discussion is because it 
is an objective example of what kind of project could be started on the 
seed wiki.  It should have started on a seed wiki rather than on 
Wikibooks, especially with the Beck Foundation grant and other issues 
that still have yet to be explained fully within the Wikijunior 
community, and some significant policy differences between Wikijunior 
and Wikibooks.  I also have my doubts as to if Wikijunior could in fact 
get the necessary participation criteria, but I'm willing to wait and see.

-- 
Robert Scott Horning