[Foundation-l] Start "questions and answers" site within Wikimedia

[Oliver Moran]

> There's a simple question: Can you run all key services relevant to
Wikimedia using only free/open software?

The question of "key service" is very interesting. If something were
considered to be a key service, I would definately say that it should be
managed by Wikimedia and, for practical reasons, rely only on free software
(as far as possible). But is a Q&A facility a "key service"? Or is it
something that, for example, a community like exists on Stack Exchange can
do just as well - maybe even better?

The other things below are also very interesting and spot on.

Oliver

On 22 July 2011 09:44, Erik Moeller <erik at wikimedia.org> wrote:

> On Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 1:25 AM, Oliver Moran <oliver.moran at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > The issues you raise about open-source vs. proprietary software, that's
> an
> > open-source vs. proprietary software debate - and one that sounds like it
> is
> > on the ideological edge of that arena. As a software engineer who
> develops
> > proprietary software, I can almost guarantee that a whole bunch of
> > open-source software (e.g. MIT licenced) is in the Stack Exchange
> software.
> > Indeed, just by looking at their web source its possible to see proof of
> > that. Because of this, the matter of the benefits of open source software
> > vs. the proprietary software is a theoretical one. In modern practise,
> the
> > two cannot be so cleanly separated.
>
> There's a simple question: Can you run all key services relevant to
> Wikimedia using only free/open software? If the answer is no, we're
> losing something very important, which isn't merely about sticking to
> our guns, but about ensuring the survivability of what we're doing for
> not just years, but decades to come.
>
> I think the idea of a dedicated Q/A site is an interesting one -- but
> not necessarily the best way to address the underlying problem. We're
> test-deploying a small feature for microfeedback (including requests
> for help) from new users next week. The initial deployment is designed
> to assess the signal/noise ratio of such microfeedback & make a
> decision about whether to iterate further on that model. You can read
> a bit more here:
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:VPT#Quick_Feedback_on_Editing_Experience:_New_Editors
>
> Such systems could potentially be expanded further, as can systems
> like the new Article Feedback tool, to carefully manage, curate and
> respond to a wide variety of subjective information flows from
> questions to comments to reviews. In the meantime, StackOverflow,
> Quora & friends are spending very substantial effort improving their
> editing features, e.g.:
> http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/07/faster-edits-with-inline-editing/
>
> IMO the convergence of curation and collaboration systems for
> subjective & objective information flows is a pretty natural
> development and one which we shouldn't be afraid of.
> --
> Erik Möller
> Deputy Director, Wikimedia Foundation
>
> Support Free Knowledge: http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Donate
>
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