[WikiEN-l] Academic study: Wikipedia cancer information accurate but hard to read

[Fred Bauder]

> On Sep 16, 2011 6:35 PM, "Fred Bauder" <fredbaud at fairpoint.net> wrote:
>> It is difficult to balance the needs of the general public, which reads
>> more at a 5th grade level than a 9th grade level, with the need to
>> present comprehensive information that would be of use to an
>> oncologist.
>>
>> If we addressed this problem in a systemic way we would present
>> alternate
>> articles at differing levels of comprehensiveness and readability.
>>
>> Perhaps in the future.
>
> If most people that have completed the ninth grade can't read at the
> ninth
> grade level, you need to recalibrate your scale... Either that, or give
> up
> on this nonsense that readability can be determined by word and sentence
> length. It has far more to do with how engaging it is and how much prior
> knowledge it assumes than how long the sentences are.
>
> If people want something that doesn't require much language skill, we do
> have Simple English Wikipedia. I haven't visited it in a while, so I'm
> not
> sure how good it is these days.
>

It doesn't have much detailed information on cancer.

Simple English serves those learning English who have a limited
vocabulary, not the general English speaking public, who are literate but
not skilled readers. Reaching that population, the masses, if you will,
requires specialized writing and editorial skills. Governmental and
medical organizations use those skills while crafting public information
documents. We could also learn and apply those skills in an appropriate
format.

Fred