[Foundation-l] News from English Wikisource

[Anthere]

Well, thanks for that great report and to all wikisourcies :-)

The Foundation far too often focuses on Wikipedia. I thought it was 
worth putting it here: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Home

I hope you do not mind :-)

ant

  daniwo59 at aol.com wrote:
>  
> I thought it would be a good idea to share some news about another  project, 
> the English Wikisource, which has been doing some remarkable work in  the past 
> few months, thanks to a small group of dedicated editors and  contributors.  
> First for some background: Wikisource is much more than a library of old  and 
> PD texts. It can, and should, operate in tandem with the other projects, by  
> providing the background to the information we offer. For instance, take a 
> look  at our English Wikipedia article on the Book of Omni, one of the books of 
> the  LDS scriptures. (_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Omni_ 
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Omni) ). By clicking on any of the verses mentioned 
> in  the citations, you will be taken directly to the actual verses in 
> Wikisource,  set in the context of the entire chapter. One of our goals is to make this 
>  possible for a wide range of texts, including the Qur'an, the Vedas, and, of 
>  course, the Bible, as well as classical Greek and Latin texts, which have a  
> standardized verse numbering system. One of our contributors, Robth1, is 
> already  working on a version of Xenophon's Hellenica which will be integrated as 
> source  material into the relevant Wikipedia articles, where chapter and verse 
> will link  to chapter and verse. 
> Wikisource, however, is not just for old sources that already exist. We  are 
> also doing some fascinating translation work, some of it never before seen.  
> One contributor, Dmitri Smirnov, is hard at work creating stunning translations 
>  of some of the major Russian poets, including Baratynsky, Mandelstam, and  
> Pushkin. Here is just one example: 
> _http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/More_tender_than_tender_ (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/More_tender_than_tender) . 
> BirgitteSB managed to find a document in French,  describing the establishment of 
> colonies along the  Mississippi. It has already been  transcribed and posted to 
> French Wikisource, and a new English translation is on  the way. You can see it 
> here: _http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_account_of_the_founding_of_St._Louis_ 
> (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/An_account_of_the_founding_of_St._Louis) . In 
> breaking news, we are about to collaborate  with the Italian Wikisource to 
> transcribe and translate a series of manuscript  letters by Michelangelo and 
> Galileo, found by Sherurcij. These letters appear  nowhere on the Internet, and 
> will be a great addition to our collection.  
> We are also examining ways to handle multiple versions and translations  of 
> texts. This month, our featured text is Donne's Elegie II, a poem for which  we 
> have two editions (1663 and 1896). You can read the editions individually, or 
>  find a comparison here: 
> _http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Elegy_II_Comparative_text_ (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Elegy_II_Comparative_text) . The Bible 
> offers a particularly challenging  problem, when it comes to multiple transl
> ations. To see one way that we are  handling it, check 
> _http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible/Obadiah/1/1_ (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Bible/Obadiah/1/1)  for 
> the first verse of the Book of Obadiah.  
> Journals are a great addition to Wikisource, and can provide some great  
> references for articles in other projects. For instance, in 1917, National  
> Geographic published an article about the Russian Revolution and its impact on  
> America. You can  find the article, along with the images here: 
> _http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/National_Geographic_Magazine/Volume_31/April_1917/The_Russian_Situ
> ation_and_Its_Significance_to_America_ 
> (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/National_Geographic_Magazine/Volume_31/April_1917/The_Russian_Situation_and_Its_Signif
> icance_to_America) . That same year, NG published a series of  sketches on 
> warblers, complete with paintings by famed Swiss-American naturalist  Louis 
> Agassiz. You can find an example here 
> (_http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/National_Geographic_Magazine/Volume_31/April_1917/Friends_of_Our_Forests/Magnolia_Warbler_ 
> (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/National_Geographic_Magazine/Volume_31/April_19
> 17/Friends_of_Our_Forests/Golden-winged_Warbler) ), complete with links to 
> the English Wikipedia  (click on the link above the painting) and Wikispecies 
> (click on the Latin  name).  
> Finally, a word about other encyclopedias – we have them too, and many  
> different ones to keep us busy. Laverock is hard at work adding the original  
> letter B articles from the 1911 edition of Britannica, but we also have  
> specialized encyclopedias of Catholicism, the Bible, and more. Shanel,  BookofJude, 
> Shimgray and others have been adding to The New Student's Reference  Work, a 1914 
> edition of an encyclopedia for young people: Here is an article  about 
> Australia: 
> _http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_Student%27s_Reference_Work/Australia_ (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_New_Student's_Reference_Work/Australia) 
> .  
> Some of our texts appear nowhere else on the Internet. These include  poems 
> by Francis Ledwidge (_http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Francis_Ledwidge_ 
> (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Author:Francis_Ledwidge) ) and the Historical 
> Library of Diodorus Siculus,  is being developed by Zhaladshar. Soon to come are 
> the diaries of Kaiser Wilhelm  II. Also, keep an eye out for our new French 
> Literature portal, which was  developed by our friends in French Wikisource. 
> You will probably notice the specialized headers on each of these pages,  
> which were created by Pathoschilde. They help to create a uniformity among all  
> the texts, and make it easier to skip from one chapter to the next.  
> This is just some of the news from the English Wikisource. I hope people  
> will drop by and suggest ways that can help their pet projects by providing a  
> reliable system of internal sources. With all these projects underway, we are  
> also looking for volunteers to help transcribe, translate, scan, proof, link,  
> and add their favorite texts. All of the projects mentioned above are "in  
> progress," and we need all the help we can get. For more information, drop by  
> the #wikisource channel on IRC.  
> Danny
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