[Foundation-l] Fwd: 18.1831, All: Call for Participation: Wikipedia Volunteers

[GerardM]

Hoi,
I have asked and received permission to forward to you all this most
excellent bit of news.

The linguist list, is a most excellent resource for people interested in the
field of linguistics. As I mentioned some time ago they have had a funding
drive and in that funding drive they asked for a certain amount of money in
a given amount of days and they would then have a project on Wikipedia to
learn what needs doing to get better coverage for the field of linguistics.

What you will read in this mail that the total community of linguists are
asked to cooperate. I am really thrilled as it will also get us more
linguists interested in what we do. My hope is that a fraction will be
interested in the languages that they care for and help it become more
relevant. As a member of the "language prevention committee", I love to get
more knowledgeable people involved in our smaller projects. If it means that
we get more requests for more projects we will really feel embarrassed with
all the new projects we will have to approve because of the quality of the
Incubator content and the quality of the linguistic arguments why we should
approve yet another language :)

NB Is this not a really clever way of raising money; give us this much in
this time frame and we will then do this as a bonus...

Thanks,
     GerardM

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: LINGUIST Network <linguist at linguistlist.org>
Date: Jun 18, 2007 6:53 PM
Subject: 18.1831, All: Call for Participation: Wikipedia Volunteers
To: LINGUIST at listserv.linguistlist.org

LINGUIST List: Vol-18-1831. Mon Jun 18 2007. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 18.1831, All: Call for Participation: Wikipedia Volunteers

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            Helen Aristar-Dry, Eastern Michigan U <hdry at linguistlist.org>

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1)
Date: 18-Jun-2007
From: Hannah Morales < hannah at linguistlist.org >
Subject: Wikipedia Volunteers




-------------------------Message 1 ----------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2007 12:49:35
From: Hannah Morales < hannah at linguistlist.org >
Subject: Wikipedia Volunteers


Dear subscribers,

As you may recall, one of our Fund Drive 2007 campaigns was called the
"Wikipedia Update Vote." We asked our viewers to consider earmarking their
donations to organize an update project on linguistics entries in the
English-language Wikipedia. You can find more background information on this
at:

http://linguistlist.org/donation/fund-drive2007/wikipedia/index.cfm.

The speed with which we met our goal, thanks to the interest and generosity
of
our readers, was a sure sign that the linguistics community was enthusiastic
about the idea. Now that summer is upon us, and some of you may have a bit
more
leisure time, we are hoping that you will be able to help us get started on
the
Wikipedia project.  The LINGUIST List's role in this project is a purely
organizational one. We will:

*Help, with your input, to identify major gaps in the Wikipedia materials or
pages that need improvement;
*Compile a list of linguistics pages that Wikipedia editors have identified
as
"in need of attention from an expert on the subject" or " does not cite any
references or sources," etc;
*Send out periodical calls for volunteer contributors on specific topics or
articles;
*Provide simple instructions on how to upload your entries into Wikipedia;
*Keep track of our project Wikipedians;
*Keep track of revisions and new entries;
*Work with Wikimedia Foundation to publicize the linguistics community's
efforts.

We hope you are as enthusiastic about this effort as we are. Just to help us
all
get started looking at Wikipedia more critically, and to easily identify an
area
needing improvement, we suggest that you take a look at the List of
Linguists
page at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_linguists. M

Many people are not listed there; others need to have more facts and
information
added.  If you would like to participate in this exciting update effort,
please
respond by sending an email to LINGUIST Editor Hannah Morales at
hannah at linguistlist.org, suggesting what your role might be or which
linguistics
entries you feel should be updated or added. Some linguists who saw our
campaign
on the Internet have already written us with specific suggestions, which we
will
share with you soon.

This update project will take major time and effort on all our parts. The
end
result will be a much richer internet resource of information on the breadth
and
depth of the field of linguistics. Our efforts should also stimulate
prospective
students to consider studying linguistics and to educate a wider public on
what
we do. Please consider participating.

Sincerely,
Hannah Morales
Editor, Wikipedia Update Project


Linguistic Field(s): Not Applicable






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