[WikiEN-l] specialised encyclopaedias (was Re: To: Jimmy Wales - Admin-driven death of Wikipedia)

[Mark Gallagher]

G'day Steve,

> On 6/10/06, Jesse W <jessw at netwood.net> wrote:
> 
>>You would not see that in the Encyclopedia of Late 20th Century
>>American Television?  Really?  Or do you mean in any "general"
>>encyclopedia.  Because certainly, Wikipedia reaches the level of a
>>specialized encyclopedia in a number of areas, like television shows -
>>but (I hope), we don't go too much beyond that.
> 
> I still find it hard to imagine a specialised encyclopaedia listing
> all the couch gags in Simpsons episodes, or detailed plot summaries
> with "quotes" for every episode of Futurama or "Clerks: The Animated
> Series" etc etc. If someone can prove me wrong, go for it.

While still at school, I ran across a /Star Trek: The Next Generation/ 
encyclopaedia (it was in the school library, believe it or not).  It 
included descriptions of all characters and their history (that is, 
their real-world history[0] ... how the show's creators went about 
recruiting actors, how they'd originally envisioned the characters[1], etc.

There was also a detailed listing of all TNG episodes, with plot 
summary, credits, a very short review, interesting technical details, 
and occasionally a photograph.  At the end was a detailed "making of" of 
/Generations/, since that film had just been released, or was about to 
be released, at the time of publication.

I think this qualifies as a specialist encyclopaedia, and I don't see a 
problem with Wikipedia including analogous content --- provided we keep 
in mind that a) it has to be relevant to people who don't already know 
heaps about TNG, and b) it has to stay neutral and not be packed with 
fan theories and other such crud.


[0] I think a lot of our fiction articles could be dramatically improved
     by taking a real-world approach: "here is what this fictional entity
     should look like to people who aren't wrapped up in the fictional
     universe".  Our /Doctor Who/ articles largely get this right; our
     /Star Wars/ and particularly /Gundam/ articles often don't.  As a
     Trekkie, I haven't bothered looking at our /Star Trek/ collection,
     for fear it would only depress me.

     Compare [[Light saber]] with [[Dalek]].  Then choose any Gundam
     article at random, and marvel at the statistics presented therein,
     instantly forgetting any criticisms you may have had for [[Light
     saber]].

[1] There was a lot of emphasis on Captain Picard being French, and why
     he stayed that way even after Patrick Stewart, the most British
     British actor the Brits have produced, was cast to play him.

-- 
Mark Gallagher
"What?  I can't hear you, I've got a banana on my head!"
- Danger Mouse