James Salman's proposal for Google Summer of Code is being discussed at https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T89416 and I think we need more feedback from more people. I have summarized in https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T89416#1087673 my opinion against including this project until receiving community backing. James' arguments also must be considered though, and I think we are in a situation where more voices are welcome.
On Fri, Feb 13, 2015 at 7:31 PM, Risker <[email protected]> wrote: > > While I have no doubt that the WMF and the Wikimedia community care about > the accuracy of articles, there's no basis to believe that this project > would have any effect on said accuracy, or that it will actually identify > inaccuracies in the text; it looks for "old" edits that haven't been > revised using keywords that may or may not have any relevance to the > accuracy of the information. It would require tens of thousands of > person-hours (if not more) to analyse the data, and not a single article > would be improved. Your proposal requires massive time commitment from > reviewers of the data obtained in order to assess whether or not an update > should be requested; it doesn't even fix out-of-date information. There is > no indication at all that there is any interest on the part of Wikipedians > to review data identified in the manner you propose. > > Risker/Anne > > > On 13 February 2015 at 12:58, James Salsman <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Risker wrote: > > > > > >... relying on suggestions from a six-year-old strategy document > > > when we're about to start a new strategic session, isn't the best > > > course of action. > > > > A strategy proposal which never garnered criticism after so many > > opportunities would seem to qualify as at least an emergent strategy > > within the meaning of the slide and narrative at > > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4Kvj5vCaW0&t=19m30s > > > > Furthermore, the initial limited subtask would be much more difficult > > to evaluate as a strategy without a working prototype, including by > > the Bot Approvals Group which demands working code before making a > > final decision on implementation. Trying to second guess the BAG is > > presumptuous. > > > > Is it possible that supporting updates to out of date articles would > > not be part of any successful strategy for the Foundation? I have > > posted multiple series of statistics to wiki-research-l in the past > > several months proving that quality issues are transitioning from > > creating new content to maintaining old content, and will be happy to > > recapitulate them should anyone suggest that they think it could be. > > > > > what exactly is the plan for doing something with this information. > > > > It will be made available to volunteers as a backlog list which > > community members may or may not choose to work on. The Foundation > > can't prescribe mandatory content improvement work without putting the > > safe harbor provisions in jeopardy. Volunteers will be attracted to > > working on such updates in proportion to the extent they see them as > > being a worthy use of their editing time. > > > > I have additional detailed plans for testing which I will be happy to > > discuss with interested co-mentors, because depending on available > > resources there could be a way to eliminate substantial duplication of > > effort. > > > > I have updated the synopses at > > https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Accuracy_review > > and https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T89416 > > > > Best regards, > > James Salsman > > > > >> I invite review of this preliminary proposal for a Google Summer of > > >> Code project: > > >> http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Accuracy_review > > >> > > >> If you would like to co-mentor this project, please sign up. I've been > > >> a GSoC mentor every year since 2010, and successfully mentored two > > >> students in 2012 resulting in work which has become academically > > >> relevant, including in languages which I can not read, i.e., > > >> http://talknicer.com/turkish-tablet.pdf .) I am most interested in > > >> co-mentors at the WMF or Wiki Education Foundation involved with > > >> engineering, design, or education. > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Wikitech-l mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l > > > _______________________________________________ > Wikitech-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l > -- Quim Gil Engineering Community Manager @ Wikimedia Foundation http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/User:Qgil _______________________________________________ Wikitech-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
