[WikiEN-l] WikiPrint service - Could we make it easy to print out a selected category of Wikipedia for libraries etc.?

[Akash Mehta]

I think we first need to finetune the quality of such articles. Sure,
for every TV show, wikipedia has an article. But many (if not most)
articles are stubs, they are subject to vandalism and lack references.
First we need to bring them up to, say, good article status.

On 9/13/06, jasonspiro4 <jasonspiro4+news at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Huge libraries (large / U.S. Ivy League universities' libraries, public
> libraries in world-class cities, Library of Congress, etc.) spend unbelievable
> amounts of money on buying books and magazines every year. Books and magazines
> are great, but there are certain subjects with no relevant books or magazine
> articles available. Example: TV. For any popular TV show, Wikipedia has a main
> article and numerous subarticles on characters, episodes, and so on. For some
> subjects, Wikipedia is truly the best choice for information.
>
> I propose we band together and start a WikiPrint service. We could somehow make
> it easy for schools, corporations and libraries to print out subsets of
> Wikipedia: e.g. if they want a PDF of a whole category to send to an online
> print-on-demand shop, we compile the PDF for them, add a nice cover page etc.,
> and send it to the shop for them if they like. They would pay us for the
> service.
>
> I am not sure if this would be a for-profit service or a free service (e.g.
> part of the WikiPress system). For-profit would mean we would be able to
> promote ourselves more and we would be more motivated to do well.
>
> Would this be a useful / popular service? What kinds of customers would come to
> us? For example, a question for you librarians among us: would libraries be
> interested in such a service?
>
> Jason Spiro
> Computer programming student and Wikipedian
> Toronto, Canada
>
> --
> Jason Spiro: computer consulting with a smile.
> I also do computer training and spyware removal for homes and businesses.
> Call or email for a FREE 5-minute consultation. Satisfaction guaranteed.
> jasonspiro4 at gmail.com / 416-781-5938 / Skype ID: jasonspiro
>
>
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