Just to outline some other quick issues...
Paid editors backed by a Foundation initiative inserts a tiered class of editors, where we haven't had such a thing in the past (debatably).
Who would pay for such a thing, even as a project to support Wikipedia? The money isn't going to WMF, its going to private individuals to insert content of uncertain quality that may not last out the day, let alone forever.
Who determines what type of content gets added? Do they only work on redlinks? Some of them are fairly obscure for general curriculum students. Can they edit articles of the sponsoring institution?
Finally, why would the WMF want to endorse the idea of folks getting paid for editing? Since no monetary reward comes directly from this activity, only by skewing the content to the benefit of the sponsoring institution can an investment be recouped.
Nathan
On Jan 7, 2008 1:52 PM, Ian A Holton poeloq@gmail.com wrote:
On Mon, 2008-01-07 at 18:36 +0000, Thomas Dalton wrote:
On 07/01/2008, Ian A Holton poeloq@gmail.com wrote:
On Mon, 2008-01-07 at 18:03 +0000, Thomas Dalton wrote:
I'm not sure what country you are referring to, but from my experience getting into a decent university on a satisfactory course one should at least have some good grades and a decent character. I try not to be biased, but the American system seems to be slightly more acceptable to people with lower qualifications or less motivation.
Obviously, if this were to be planned one would need criteria having to be met (for example one can only be paid for edits on articles from ones field of study).
"decent" being the operative word there. There are many unis that I wouldn't describe as "decent". My experience is with UK unis, but I think the same applies to varying degrees wherever you go (except possibly China, from what I hear).
Well, having attended Beijing Language and Culture University I can confirm that Chinese universities are intend of quite a good standard and that entry requirements are quite hight - both academically and financially. On the matter of UK universities, where I now attend [[SOAS]], I agree that quality differs.
I wonder if the Wikimedia Foundation would be interested in such an idea in the future. In my opinion this would be a fantastic idea for all parties involved.
I doubt it's something the WMF would fund directly (at least, not until their financial situation is more stable), we need an outside backer if the idea is going to go anywhere.
I'm not suggesting that the WMF would back this directly, as I fully understand that they need money currently for things with a much larger priority. However, having the support of the WMF would be fantastic for getting such outside backing. However, I fear that the WMF might see this as money going somewhere else that could have been going to them.
Ian [[User:Poeloq]]
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