Well Ed, as one "text junkie" to another, I liked Gerard's use of that term, because it shows how text oriented we have become, while the world around us tries to live by information bytes wrapped into audio and visual effects. Yes we need more text junkies, but the text junkies we already have need to step outside the confines of Wikipedia and take a look at their own work from the viewpoint of other projects. A healthy Wikiverse is one where savvy Wikipedians are savvy Commonists and savvy Wikidatans as well (and both of those projects are also heavily text-based btw). I think what Gerard is getting at is not so much whether our information needs to be text-based or image-based or machine-readable, but that our basic reliance on "reliable sources" (now also mostly text-based) is currently needlessly limited by the monolingual searches of text junkies like ourselves. Once we become familiar with how to use Wikidata in the way it was intended (interlinking the Wikiverse) we will be able to easily tap into many more reliable sources that are beyond our current individual search abilities as "text junkies" in our own language. Our challenge moving forward is to learn how to trust the work of other Wikipedia projects, something we don't do enough of, in my opinion.
On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 11:16 PM, Ed Erhart <the.e...@gmail.com> wrote: > 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 < > gerard.meijs...@gmail.com> > 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 <risker...@gmail.com> 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 <gerard.meijs...@gmail.com> > > > 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 <jmh...@gmail.com> 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 > > > > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > > > > Unsubscribe: > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > > > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org > ?subject=unsubscribe> > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > > > Unsubscribe: > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: > https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines > Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org > Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, > <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe> _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines Wikimedia-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:wikimedia-l-requ...@lists.wikimedia.org?subject=unsubscribe>
