[Foundation-l] Reconsidering the policy "one language - one Wikipedia"

[Pharos]

What about wikipediajr.org ?

And so we would have en.wikipediajr.org, fr.wikipediajr.org etc.

Thanks,
Pharos

On Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 10:04 AM, Ziko van Dijk <zvandijk at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Thanks for your very useful thoughts, Samuel. They lead us to these
> two key questions:
>
> - Create new Wikipedias, or a new project: What would make sense? If
> they were new Wikipedias, we would potentially double the list with
> interwiki links ("in other languages"). I prefer a new project.
>
> - Scope and name: Maybe it would practically make no big difference
> whether the project is called "simple" or "for kids". Poor readers and
> adult beginning readers (natives or not) tend to read texts that are
> meant for children anyway. It could make a difference in promoting,
> though. A scope question can also be whether certain kinds of explicit
> images are allowed.
>
> Before beginning such a project, it may be good to have a more
> elaborate concept than there has been when the Wikipedias started. But
> even before that, the Foundation should tell whether such a project
> has any chance to be accepted, or will be banned for being essentially
> Wikipedia in already existing languages.
>
> Hey, I just googled and found that there is already a proposal at Meta. :-)
>
> Kind regards
> Ziko
>
> https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/meta/wiki/Wikikids
>
>
> 2010/6/24 Samuel J Klein <sj at wikimedia.org>:
>> Hi Ziko,
>>
>> On Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 8:41 AM, Ziko van Dijk <zvandijk at googlemail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> In the discussion, the question of creating a Wikipedia in simple
>>> German came up.
>>
>> This would be useful.
>>
>>> As we know, to-day Wikimedia language committee policies prohibit a
>>> new Wikipedia in a language that already has a Wikipedia.
>>
>> To be more precise: the language committee was tasked with determining
>> when to start new language projects.  It was never asked to consider
>> other sorts of new projects.  So either "simple German" is a new
>> language, or it's out of the current scope of the committee.
>>
>> Overall, we've never decided whether a "simple" or "children's
>> encyclopedia" should be a separate project with its own root domain,
>> or another set of 'languages' that show up as an interlanguage link or
>> as FOO.wikipedia.org .
>>
>>
>>> The existence of a Wikipedia in simple English refers to the fact that it
>>> had been created before that policy of 2006.
>>
>> Simple English is quite useful, and used for groups developing their
>> literacy skills at all ages, including many communities learning
>> English as a Second Language.  Presumably the same could be true of
>> any other language.
>>
>>
>>> There are a number of ideas and initiatives to create online
>>> encyclopedias in "simple language", in and outside the Wikimedia
>>> world. Wouldn't it be suitable to reconsider and try to give those
>>> initiatives a place? Who else is more capable to create and support
>>> such encyclopedias than we are?
>>
>> +1
>>
>> My thoughts:
>> * I would love to see similar projects in at least German, French,
>> Spanish, and Dutch -- languages in which there are already communities
>> working on encyclopedic knowledge in simplified language.
>> * We should have a new process for requesting a simple-language
>> version of a project.
>> * We should resolve standard practice for naming them, and decide if
>> this should be a new top-level Project (like wikikids) or a variation
>> on the normal language code.
>>
>> Considering the historical role of the children's encyclopedia, we
>> might consider rescoping "simple" as "for children" -- this could help
>> to increase participation and use, and clarify the role of these
>> projects.
>>
>> SJ
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Ziko van Dijk
> Niederlande
>
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