[Foundation-l] Black market science

[Ray Saintonge]

On 07/07/11 12:00 AM, Ting Chen wrote:
> On de.wikisource.org they scan every page of the original text, upload
> the scan on Commons and show the scan on the right part of every page as
> an image. It is even obligatory to have the original scan of the text.
>
> The following page is an example:
> http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Seite:Oberamt_Tettnang_231.jpg (I just hit
> the random page)

This is, of course, excessive.  On the one hand it is a continuing 
virtue to have reliable proofread texts, but it should be sufficient to 
be able to link to such a text somewhere without necessarily including a 
copy.  Whether one, two or three people have verified a text can indeed 
be shown in the metadata, and that becomes a basis for a user to judge 
reliability. Imposing stringent requirements will also discourage having 
other editions of the same work.

The one place where we can provide the greatest value-added is in 
linking the material in ways that it will become useful.

Ray