Tell us about Silesian Wikipedia

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Silesian Wikipedia

Questionnaire

Contributors

Wikimedia Statistics can be difficult to interpret. What is your impression, how many steady contributors do you have?

Steady contributors of Silesian Wikipedia is a group of 10-20 persons, if we include accounts where contributions are only adding interwiki, category and similar - about 10 more. Lajsikonik 20:24, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Are your contributors mostly native speakers?

Steady contributors mostly yes. Lajsikonik 20:24, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Where do your contributors live (regions/country)?

Most of them living in Polish part of Upper Silesia, some in other regions of Poland, we have Upper Sorbian and Ukrainian users, too. Lajsikonik 20:24, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How common is it that your contributors meet in real life?

By now, we have one official meeting (in Silesian: "tref"), some contributors know each other from real live, and we have meets each other also at the cultural occassions dedicated to the Silesian culture, like fests and other. Lajsikonik 20:24, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Other Wikipedias

Do you have special contacts with another Wikipedias (maybe in related languages)?

Yes, many of us contributing Polish Wikipedia, some contributors also supports other language editions. Lajsikonik 20:24, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Do you translate a lot from other Wikipedias? Which ones?

Yes, we made translations, mostly from Polish Wikipedia, but that was considered as not-NPOV by some contributors (as "promotion of Polish viewpoint"), so we try to write more by ourselves and make translations from other Wikipedias, mostly en, ru and de. Sometimes it happens that Polish Wikipedia translate articles from szl, and we are proud of that. :) Lajsikonik 20:24, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Organization and support

Is there a Wikimedia chapter in your country? How does your language relate to it?

Silesian Wikipedia is one of Wikimedia Polska projects. Our relations are quite good, in spite of some fears at the beginning. Lajsikonik 20:24, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Are there work groups in other organizations about Wikipedia?

None yet if it's a question about the Silesian Wikipedia. For now, it is enough what we do around Silesian Wikipedia spontaneously. Lajsikonik 20:24, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Your Wikipedia and the linguistic community

Is there a language institution for your language, like an Academy, or a club of people interested in your language? Do you have contact with them?

We have contacts with two main organisations which are promoting the language: Pro Loquela Silesiana and Tôwarzistwo Piastowaniô Ślónskij Môwy "Danga". There are no official institution for normalisation of the Silesian language, but first steps to create it was already done, like the conference "Śląsko godka - jeszcze gwara czy jednak już język?" (Silesian - a dialect or however already a language?), which took place on 30 June 2008. However, it have to be known that the Silesian language has 8 different dialects and effort to create the "universal" Silesian language might be failed. It is similar to, for example, the Asturian language. Lajsikonik 20:36, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Who (else) supports you?

It help us a bit that the feedback from Silesian media was - and is - very positive. Silesian Wikipedia becomes an important element of efforts to save the language and gain a status of regional language, similar to Kashubian language.

What does the public outreach for your edition look like? Do you have flyers, give lectures, trainings etc.?

We have some projects of them and we will talk about it at the congress of Wikimedia Polska, at September 27 2008. We hope to have it ready at the beginning of 2009. Lajsikonik 20:59, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Do you get feedback from readers?

Yes, we have feedback, positive and some negative as well. Many about the Silesian Wikipedia is written at disscussion forums dedicated to Silesian topics. Our answer to critics is "if so, fix it. You even don't have to create an account!" - that because the critics is mostly about "there are no (topic) in the Silesian Wikipedia". :) Lajsikonik 21:02, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

What other encyclopedias exist in your language?

There are no any other Encyclopedia in Silesian. There are vocabularies, historical books, poems, novels and so on, but the Wikipedia is a first encyclopedia in Silesian. Lajsikonik 20:59, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Content

Does your edition concentrates on certain topics, like your region and language, or Latin Wikipedia on Roman history and Christianity?

That is normal that the contributors writing about topics which are their interests, so there are described more Silesian topics like for example British, more rock and metal music than operas, and so on. But we make effort to include bit by bit elements from the list "1000 articles, which every Wikipedia should have" to Silesian Wikipedia. Lajsikonik 21:07, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Did your edition enjoy text donations, for example from older encyclopedias?

There are some PD text citations, for example in our first Featured Article: [1]. By now, we have no articles which include only pure PD text. Lajsikonik 21:23, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Language

Is there a generally accepted norm about your language (spelling, dictionary, pronunciation)?

There are several different norms with 2 most popular: phonetical alphabet, which are the Silesian Wikipedia using, and Polish alphabet. There was disputed, should we allow version with Polish alphabet and make two version of each article, like in sr.wikipedia. By now, we haven't enough contributors to do that. Lajsikonik 21:33, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How do you deal with different spellings, dialects etc. (like B.E. lift and A.E. elevator)?

In Silesian are also different local forms, like kirchůw/smyntoř, wyspa/uostrůw, cesta/śćyžka and so on. We made redirects to most popular form, and put information about different forms at the heading of the article. Lajsikonik 21:33, 30 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Links

Front page of Silesian Wikipedia: http://szl.wikipedia.org