[WikiEN-l] There are no pictures in Wikipedia any more

[John Lee]

On 9/30/07, geni <geniice at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 30/09/2007, Matthew Brown <morven at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On 9/30/07, geni <geniice at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > On 30/09/2007, Matthew Brown <morven at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > On 9/30/07, geni <geniice at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > > You could but given the likely lack of sources you will run into
> I'm
> > > > > not sure you will get very far.
> > > >
> > > > I'm sure there are plenty of sources in India.
> > >
> > > On what basis?
> >
> > On what basis do you think there won't be sources in India for topics
> > related to India?
> >
> > -Matt
> >
>
> 1)Lack of publishing infrastructure. In say the UK something will have
> been published on pretty much any human settlement because it is easy
> to do.
>
> 2)Literacy levels. India has a literacy rate of a bit under 70% small
> pool to do the writing
>
> 3)Different cultures. One of the few things considered respectable in
> British retirement is to research your local history
>
> 4)Raw numbers. British libiary has at 25 million books one book per
> 2.4 people in Britain (and a bit over 2 items per person). Now a lot
> of that will be international but also suggests a decent coverage of
> UK topics. National library of India has about 2 million books. 1 book
> per 560 people.
>
> 5)Systemic bias. [[WP:V]] [[WP:RS]] [[WP:BLP]] yeah all kinda written
> assuming a western setup in terms of documentation.


That last point is so true. I wrote an article on one of the foremost
figures in fighting communism in Southeast Asia based solely on a
self-published book, which would automatically be tossed out by those
policies/guidelines. The problem? That book was his authorised biography.
Formulaic and mechanical applications of these rules simply do not work,
especially in a context outside that of the developed or Western world.

Johnleemk