Grants:IEG/find sources 2.0
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Project idea
editSource-finding resources are fundamental for contributors of Wikipedia and its sister projects to improve content, evaluate sources and enrich perspectives from independent and multilingual sources. However, despite the fact that fundamental Wikipedia policies and guidelines demand reliable independent sources, more integrated approach that provides human collaboration and contextual knowledge on sources, online and offline, beyond just English language, is needed beyond the current sporadic use of template {{Find sources}}.
In addition, with the increasing numbers of online news/research archives and repositories, including those in non-English internet environment such as China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Al-Hilal Digital Archive, it is imperative to create a platform where contributors can help each other, across disciplines and/or languages, in the process of exploration, filtration, accreditation and evaluation of sources. It is noted that providers such as JSTOR have begun to recognize the need and benefits for Wikipedia contributors to use their online services to find sources.
Project goals
editTo implement the idea above, this project will achieve the following goals to establish a Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) that is helpful (i.e. with enough resources and how-to manuals), manageable (i.e. low-maintenance for communities), and transferable (i.e. generic skills and practices).
- Identify useful, searchable and (generally) reliable online general-subject news/research archives and repositories so that contributors can know where to begin their search.
- Based on different publishing languages, create Wikiproject name space where both offline and online general-subject news/research archives and repositories are collected, reviewed and evaluated. Special attention should be given to integrate hands-on source literacy (i.e. the concepts of "third-party" and "primary, secondary and tertiary sources") demanded by current Wikipedia policies and guidelines (e.g. en:WP:PSTS, en:WP:RS, etc.)
- Produce accessible pages (i.e. "Find sources/list of resources", "Find sources/FAQ" and "Find sources/help") that can be readily used by new participants, particularly the target audience of Wikipedia Education Program, including en:Wikipedia Ambassador Program.
- Gather concrete ideas to improve and extend the template {{Find sources}} that accommodate various sources and languages beyond English and Google sources.
- Integrate all these outcome into a short 1:30 long video in html5 format that can be played and remixed. The video should provide a concise narrative that explains and points to the related pages of policies, resources and manuals. The html5 format and cc-by-sa license should together guarantee that others can transfer or detail the generic and specific details for other language or subject audience.
This individual project will be implemented first for English and Chinese versions of Wikipedia.
Open questions
edit- Do you like to participate in this effort? If so, why? If not, why not?
- Do you think the proposal is merely an attempt to "reinvent the wheel", or merits some consideration to integrate the current efforts in improving sources and related practices in Wikipedia and its sister projects?
- Do you believe that the outcome will be helpful to new contributors?
- I think small tool, possibly a w:en:bookmarklet, can be made that takes a selection and cleans it up and fire a search to Google. It should then be possible to create citations from specific pages, and include them through the new mw:Citoid citation tool that is now in development. It could also be interesting to look into tools to identify sentences that needs references. It is like an inverse problem, if a search for sources fails then the sentence probably must be given explicit sources. — Jeblad 15:17, 2 November 2014 (UTC)
Get involved
editWelcome, brainstormers! Your feedback on this idea is welcome. Please click the "discussion" link at the top of the page to start the conversation and share your thoughts.
Does this idea need funding? Learn more about WMF grantmaking. Or, expand to turn this idea into an Individual Engagement Grant proposal
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