[Foundation-l] Wikibooks on Harry Potter

[Andrew Whitworth]

>From: Robert Horning <robert_horning at netzero.net>
>As far as the "textbook" emphasis, that is something which has always
>been a slippery slope.  A current discussion on en.wikibooks is to try
>and change the wording to "educational text materials" to reflect more
>the reality of the situation on Wikibooks.  There are a number of
>Wikibooks that don't necessarily fit the strict definition of something
>that would be considered a textbook, but are clearly non-fiction and do
>have an educational emphasis.
>
>It is too bad that this text has to be marked yet again, presumably due
>to the current interest in all things about Harry Potter.
>
>As a side note, there is some very significant activity happening right
>now with this book, and something which the Wikibooks admins have been
>preparing for for a little bit too.  With the release of the last book,
>plus the movie release, it was anticipated that there would be many new
>users on Wikibooks, and this has in fact proven to be true as well.  It
>will be interesting to see just how far some of these new participants
>may end up going once they stick around for a bit, as there are a few
>new individuals who are quite active at the moment and making positive
>contributions but are otherwise new to the Wiki-world.
>
>-- Robert Horning

Even if we say that "Wikibooks is for textbooks" (which is the current 
definition of the project) we are then left with the next question of "what 
precisely is a textbook in this context?" When you start to think about a 
traditional "textbook", you are really thinking of something that isn't what 
Wikibooks is all about. Traditional textbooks are certainly instructional, 
but they contain all sorts of things: tests of reading comprehension, 
suggestions on how to use the book (such as the structure of the course that 
will use the book), reference materials in the form of appendices, 
definitions in the form of glossaries, etc.

On Wikibooks we focus on things that are instructional. This means that some 
things that are not considered traditional textbooks, such as how-to guides 
and manuals are included. However, things that typically are considered to 
be textbooks, such as original source works, are not included.

This brings us to the issue of the "Muggles Guide to Harry Potter". I will 
start by apologizing, I probably raised interest in this issue by posting 
about the current situation with the book on my blog. The muggles guide is 
from a class of books that we call "reading guides" or even "annotated 
texts". The goal of the muggles guide is not to reproduce the text of the 
Harry Potter books, nor to allow for speculation. What it is, is a helpful 
guide, such as the popular "spark notes" or "cliff notes" that can help the 
reader to understand some of the finer points of the book. We are a long way 
from a full-fledged academic analysis of Harry Potter, but the ultimate goal 
of this is to produce a resource that casual readers, school students, and 
school teachers can use to ensure that maximum benefit is derived from this 
series. Since Harry Potter seems to have an unprecidented (at least in 
recent times) ability to motivate young children to read, any guide that is 
going to aide in that reading and learning should certainly be rewarded, not 
viewed with suspicion.

--Andrew Whitworth

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