[Foundation-l] One Wikipedia Per Person (regarding the distribution of and the ability to read Wikipedia)

[geni]

2009/5/31 Anthony <wikimail at inbox.org>:
> On Sun, May 31, 2009 at 2:34 PM, geni <geniice at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> There are a number of existing projects to send out school text books.
>> An encyclopedia however is a useful part of wider learning.
>
>
> I guess, but a print copy of some subset of Wikipedia doesn't seem like the
> best solution for someone who already has access to school textbooks.  If
> you're talking about a major language, there are already encyclopedias
> written for them, and copies can probably be had for much less it would cost
> to publish a print edition of Wikipedia.

Evidence? Remember there are rather a lot of major languages where any
native speaker well educated and rich enough to actually buy an
encyclopedia (even in the west britanica was a middle class symbol) is
unlikely to want to buy one in that language.

>If you're talking about a minor
> language, I don't know.  Are there languages for which Wikipedia is
> unarguably the best encyclopedia, with enough native speakers to make a
> print run feasible, and for which offering an encyclopedia in a non-native
> language wouldn't be more effective?

Tagalog is the first example that comes to mind. Telugu perhaps but
the pro English bias there would be an issue.

> Maybe.  Want to start that focus group?

It's not a focus group issue. It's a document what encyclopedia's
actually exist in non European languages issue.

-- 
geni