Gerard, We need many more "text junkies," also known as article writers. Don't denigrate them.
Best, --Ed On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 1:50 PM, Gerard Meijssen <[email protected]> wrote: > Hoi, > I think I understand how much time is wasted replicating the same thing > over and over again. When we know specific facts for instance an old > president of the Sierra Leone dies, all articles about him have to change. > When new demographics of Almere become known, all articles are to change. > Adding information to Wikidata should be trivially easy on a smartphone. > This has been proven by "The Game". When it is that easy to add > information, the information can be updated in lists, in info boxes and > alerts may be generated to modify the text where needed. You will often > find that there is little to write when all the list, categories, info > boxes are already updated. > > The consequence is that people who want to write articles may continue > doing this. They do what they like best but at the same time we can do with > fewer text junkies. The fun thing is that experience has learned us that > when information becomes more complete we will attract more people anyway. > It is just that all information does not need to be typed in manually all > the time, everywhere ad nauseam. > > With more people adding data that is used everywhere, the problem of > sourcing becomes easier as well. Because a source is a source <grin> and > every language has its bias </grin> but that is a different issue. One > solace, we should always compare Wikidata data with other external sources. > In this way we will also get some/more grip on what sources to trust. :) > Thanks, > GerardM > > On 22 June 2015 at 23:46, Risker <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Gerard, I think you may be missing the point of the NYT op-ed. The issue > > isn't data, it's people who will use that data (whether it comes from > > structured data sets like Wikidata, or from dead-tree or electronic > media) > > to create articles, curate them, maintain them, keep the various > wikipedias > > mostly spam-free, and develop communities around them. We're not lacking > > in data. We're lacking in human beings and healthy, growing communities. > > > > On the other hand, I'm not entirely certain that Andrew's concerns about > > the use of smartphones as the primary mode of access is entirely > > justified. We've known for a long time that many of our editors in Asian > > countries edit using smartphones, often with a keyboard attached; we've > > even featured them in videos. But realistically, the overwhelming > majority > > of Wikipedia *readers* have never considered, even for a moment, actively > > participating in editing - and it has been that way pretty much since at > > least 2005, and maybe earlier. We can do better, of course, and making > it > > easier to edit on tablets in particular is a worthwhile enterprise > > (smartphones...well, I'm not even persuaded they're going to exist five > > years from now in the way that we know them today...) > > > > Risker/Anne > > > > On 22 June 2015 at 13:41, Gerard Meijssen <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > > > Hoi, > > > Magnus pointed the way forward when he started MediaWiki. When you look > > > into the whole stack of his data related tools, you will find how they > > make > > > aggregating data a whole lot easier and worthwhile. He demonstrated how > > > people on a mobile can be asked to help with "simple" tasks it works > well > > > and it continues to work in production (labs willing). > > > > > > When you are talking micro contributions, every statement in Wikidata > is > > > one. It can easily be done from a mobile when the UI is given > attention. > > It > > > is known how to create articles from data. The Swedes, Dutch etc have > > done > > > it often enough and it brought them more readers and more editors... > > > > > > Study what we already know. There is nothing new here and the solutions > > are > > > there to be had. We only have to accept them. I do agree that the old > > old > > > way of Wikipedia is ultimately a dead end. > > > Thanks, > > > GerardM > > > > > > On 22 June 2015 at 19:28, James Heilman <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > What we need to figure out is how to allow translation of articles > > > > through micro contributions via cellphones. > > > > > > > > Maybe send out sentences one by one for translation from one language > > > > to another. Just start with the leads of articles that are deemed to > > > > be of good quality. Than when the lead is all translated join it back > > > > together and add it to that language. This would of course only apply > > > > to articles which are non existent in the target language. > > > > > > > > Maybe Amir's "content translation" tool could do this eventually > > > > https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Content_translation > > > > > > > > -- > > > > James Heilman > > > > MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian > > > > > > > > Starting July 2015 I am a board member of the Wikimedia Foundation > > > > My emails; however, do not represent the official position of the WMF > > > > > > > > The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine > > > > www.opentextbookofmedicine.com > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > > > [email protected] > > > > Unsubscribe: > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > > > <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > > [email protected] > > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > > <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > [email protected] > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > [email protected] > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe> > _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe>
