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

[Mark Williamson]

That said, when he says "Indian topics" he is referring to Indian
topics rather than topics relating to American indigenes.

Mark

On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 15:21:46 -0700, Mark Williamson <node.ue at gmail.com> wrote:
> Gerard, perhaps you should look at the text Boris quoted.
> 
> He isn't referring to the creation of a Hopi Wikipedia, he is
> referring to the ideas of Stan and Delirium to create different
> Wikipedias for different cultures rather than different languages,
> which I think is a bad idea.
> 
> Mark
> 
> On Fri, 11 Mar 2005 22:49:53 +0100, Gerard Meijssen
> <gerard.meijssen at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Boris Lohnzweiger wrote:
> >
> > >Frankly spoken, I am totally against that idea because I think it would lead to a fragmentation of the knowledge that we are trying to collect. I couldn't think of any Indian topics that wouldn't have a place in the general English encyclopedia. The main advantage of a large encyclopedia is that is gathers knowledge from various fields (in our case, in many different languages). We shouldn't fragmentize knowledge but rather unify it in one single place. Once we'd start splitting Wikipedias into separate editions for ethnic or cultural groups, it would eventually lead to "Wikipedias for Christians", "Wikipedias for Muslims", "Wikipedias for Women", "Wikipedias for Students", "Wikipedias for Seniors" and the like, and all of them would have to be translated into 200 languages. Would that still constitute a "Free Encyclopedia" then or wouldn't it rather mean of plethora of "closed shops".
> > >
> > >
> > We are talking languages here and not "Wikipedia for Christians" or some
> > such. This will never happen as Wikipedia is a trademark. A wikipedia in
> > Hopi does not mean that the same subjects cannot be covered in any other
> > wikipedia therefore how does it fragment the knowledge we are trying to
> > collect ? Your argument against Hopi is as valid when wielded against
> > the English wikipedia because the French wikipedia could serve equally
> > well as a lingua franca.
> >
> > >IMHO, our main advantage is that we bring together people with all different sorts of backgrounds and enable them to *cooperate*. Thus we are able to attract as much knowledge as we presently do. The exchange between people of very different origins is a unique feature of Wikipedia. Any sort of separation or segregation among Wikipedia's contributors would invariably effect the level of quality we have been able to achieve, simply because it would mean a brain-drain for the general Wikipedia.
> > >
> > >
> > The level of quality that we achieve is something that can happen in any
> > wikipedia and some argue that the de:wikipedia is better than the
> > en:wikipedia. Our stated aim is to provide our wikipedia in all
> > languages currently 187. We can achieve great things in all languages.
> > It will take time, hard work but there is nothing lost and much gained
> > with a wikipedia for each language that is spoken.
> >
> > >Nevertheless certains steps in order to better serve specific communities of users can very well make sense. More than that, they would raise Wikipedia's value even more. AFAIK WikiReaders provide a very useful tool for that and so do categories and lists. Please let us not make knowledge exclusive while we are striving to unify it in one single place were it is easily accessible to everyone. We're here to remove obstacles to knowledge and not to errect new ones.
> > >
> > >
> > How will you serve the people that speak Arabic, Parsi or Bangla with an
> > English reader? Please let us not make knowledge exclusive to those that
> > speak one of the major languages. We are striving to provide a resource
> > to all people, we should cherish all spoken languages and not
> > discriminate against any of them. If there are five people willing and
> > committed to write an encyclopedia, with NPOV content, cherish them
> > because to me they are the unsung heroes of our community.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >     GerardM
> >
> > >
> > >wikipedia-l at Wikimedia.org schrieb am 11.03.05 20:25:23:
> > >
> > >Sure, that's a way to go. But not to the detriment of the big English or
> > >French Wikipedias. Especially there could be an Indian (South Asia)
> > >Wikipedia in English. But only when the time comes that a lot of people want
> > >it.
> > >
> > >Fred
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >>From: Delirium <delirium at hackish.org>
> > >>Reply-To: wikipedia-l at Wikimedia.org
> > >>Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 13:48:28 -0500
> > >>To: wikipedia-l at Wikimedia.org
> > >>Subject: Re: [Wikipedia-l] The role of a wikipedia for a language like Hopi
> > >>
> > >>Or do people actually seriously think we *should* have separate
> > >>Wikipedias catering to different cultures?
> > >>
> > >>
> >
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> >
>