[Wikipedia-l] The role of a wikipedia for a language like Hopi

[Mark Williamson]

You put it very nicely Gerard.

I don't particularly agree about the requirements, but I do agree with
everything else you said - an active Wikipedia is an active Wikipedia,
whether it's being written in a language with 10 speakers or one with
1 billion.

Currently, IIRC our greatest article-to-speaker proportion is for
Faroese. This is a bit sad since the Faroese Wikipedia doesn't even
have 200 articles, but if I recall correctly it is the truth (surely
Welsh and Basque are somewhere nearby in this proportion).

I could build a complex mathematical model, but I have the feeling
that a Wikipedia in a language with 1000 speakers has just as much
growth potential as a Wikipedia in a language with 1 million speakers,
although one may grow faster than the other, the latter will never
reach a size that the former cannot achieve as well.

Mark

On Thu, 10 Mar 2005 23:22:07 +0100, Gerard Meijssen
<gerard.meijssen at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hoi,
> To start off with. As far as I am concerned, when the requirements are
> met for a new project, it can be created. With five people adding one
> article a week, you have100 articles in 20 weeks. I am happy with that.
> 
> What we have to consider when we talk about our wikipedias, is that no
> two projects have the same content. Translations exist, but the majority
> of the articles written contain info that makes it particular to the
> language and reflects a culture. We aim to have an encyclopedia in every
> spoken language. For me it is important that the content that is
> important for a culture can be found in a wikipedia. When some argue
> that English will do for the Hopi, I would argue that this may be true
> for the general information that is provided in the English wikipedia. I
> would also argue that content will be lacking that is particular to the
> Hopi. When people who speak Hopi find the urge to create a Hopi
> Wikipedia and decide not to write about the 1000 subjects that every
> wikipedia ought to have. I would not be bothered. When they write an
> encyplodia about their culture, about the things that are relevant to
> the Hopi, I would be absolutely thrilled.
> 
> When the Hopi encyclopedia wants to include things that are of a more
> general nature, it would be great. I am of the opinion that wikipedia is
> an encyclopedia. Articles should be well written and encyclopedic in
> nature. .
> 
> Thanks,
>     GerardM
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