[Wikipedia-l] Re: Idea for a new Wikipedia

[Mark Williamson]

Timwi, depending on your definition of a child, this has already happened.

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedians_by_age

If you look there, you'll find that already, the majority of
Wikipedians were born between 1977 and 1993. Obviously if you consider
18 to be the limit of adulthood, all those on the list born after
1985-1986 are "children", and if you consider 21 to be the limit of
adulthood, that would make it 1982-1983, and if you consider it 30
(which some do), it would be 1974-1975.

Either way, that leaves you with a great deal of Wikipedians.

Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason, Kzhr (prominent Wikipedian and sysop from
ja:), and Ilyanep are all examples of Wikipedians you might know who
are under 18 - Ævar is IIRC 16, Kzhr is 15 I think, and Ilyanep is 13.
(I myself am 15, 16 in August).

The average age of Wikipedians in general iirc is 22 or so. That's
because our huge young crowd is balanced out a bit by 30- and
40-somethings.

Mark

On 17/04/05, Timwi <timwi at gmx.net> wrote:
> Angela wrote:
> > On 4/15/05, Wouter Steenbeek <musiqolog at hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >>… the existance of a Simple
> >>English wikipedia justifies a Simple German wikipedia anyway.
> >
> > That might be the case if the Simple English Wikipedia had been a
> > success, but, in my opinion, it has not. The project still has very
> > unclear goals, and few guidelines about which level editors should be
> > writing at. It is not even clear whether the wiki is meant for
> > children or learners of English as an additional language.
> 
> Exactly. I think naming is everything. "Simple English", to me, sounds
> silly, and an invitation to participate in it can even be regarded as
> slightly condescending. If it had instead been called "Children's
> Wikipedia", I would be much more willing to participate.
> 
> Unfortunately, "Children's Wikipedia" itself is ambiguous: Does it mean
> the content is aimed at children, or it is intended to allow children to
> collaborate? I fear the term "Children's Wikipedia" would attract more
> child contributors, which in turn might discourage adult editors because
> the social dynamics are vastly different (and probably "too childish"
> for most grown-ups).
> 
> These are just some thoughts; this is not intended to imply that I am
> advocating (or opposing) the creation or deletion of any Wikipedias or
> any other projects.
> 
> Timwi
> 
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