Talk:Richard T. Russell

Untitled

• Can we remove the unfriendly Wikipedia disclaimer at the top of Richard T. Russell's page? It suggests that the information is prejudiced, but I can't see anything here which could be construed as biased or inaccurate. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chithecynic (talk • contribs) 15:38, 15 November 2009 (UTC)

Is it possible to get someone other than Richard Russell editing the page? The editor almost certainly has a WP:COI, considering the similarity of the username and article title. However, he does seem to be notable... Having said that, this article presents information that conflicts with BBC BASIC: while this article states Russell created BBC BASIC, the article for BBC BASIC states it was mainly developed by Roger Wilson. It certainly does not suggest Russell made such a significant contribution as to warrant claiming responsibility for its creation. Please clarify your hand in its development, RichardRussell (since nobody else seems to be willing to edit the page). Phlyght (talk) 17:14, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

I've reread the articles and have realised that BBC BASIC is not the same as BBC BASIC for Windows, so forget the struck-out part. Having said that, there should still be another editor with no personal interest in the article. Furthermore, I've checked the references and have found some issues with them:

• The source for Citation 1 doesn't actually mention Russell's part in developing the z80 version of BBC BASIC. Another source would be good.
• The source for Citation 5 doesn't mention the award for Video R&D, nor does it assert the PAL decoder is the best in the world (and even if it did assert that, a developer of the decoder is hardly a neutral third party). The citation is misleading. Even if it is Wikipedia's style to place citations at the ends of sentences, this sentence needs to be split up so that the citation doesn't appear to be a one-stop shop for evidence of all these unreferenced achievements.

Phlyght (talk) 18:10, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

He is notable - I've been following the TelRec. saga and am quite prepared to edit if needed...Zir (talk) 12:07, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

There's no doubt that he has a conflict of interest since he's writing about himself. However that would only be a problem if it affected his point of view. And it doesn't seem to have done so. From what I can see he has stuck to factual edits, all of which are independently verifiable. Basically the article is a model of well-referenced NPOV text. So there isn't really a problem. I wish that all our COI editors were as scrupulous. -- Derek Ross | Talk 17:55, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Regarding the COI tag

An editor has left a message at WP:Editor assistance/Requests#Richard T. Russell regarding the WP:COI tag. Here is my take on the referencing.

• Barry Collins, BBC Basic: the people's language,PC Pro, September 2006, pp140-141, ISSN 1355-4603
  • This article (page two) says that Sophie Wilson wrote the original implementation of BBC Basic.
    • BBC BASIC for Windows (BB4W) is not the same thing as BBC Basic. They are two different things. It is true that Sophie Wilson developed BBC Basic, but BB4W is entirely Richard T. Russell's brainchild. If you download the trial version you will see that it is a complete IDE and the language itself has been majorly revamped in order for it to interact with the Windows operating system. If you read page 3 of the same PC Pro article, you will find the following words: "...although many people haven't used it since the 1980s, BBC Basic didn't die with the Micro. Russell used his extensive knowledge of the BBC project and the processors of the time to create an IBM PC version of BBC Basic in 1986. And many years later, in 2001, he completed an 18-month project to code BBC Basic for Windows."
      • Fair enough - I bel;ive taht there are still concerns with the ZX80 implementation cite

• Douglas J Mounter,The BBC BASIC (Z80) Reference Manual for the Z88, February 1989, ISBN 1 871 89500 6
  • I have no access to this. AGF

• Doug Mounter and Richard Russell,BBC BASIC (Z80) Reference Manual for the Tatung Einstein, 1984, ISBN 1-85086-015-7
  • I have no access to this. AGF

• John Coll, BBC Micro User Guide, British Broadcasting Corporation 1982, page 2, ISBN 0 563 16558 8
  • This acknowledges help from Russell, no more.

• Carol Atack, From Atom to Arc, Acorn User, October 1988, ISSN 0263-7456
  • Rusell produced the specification for the machine.

• Andy Finney, The BBC Domesday Project, 2007 (bottom of page)
  • By a happy coincidence the engineer who organised the digital PAL decoding of the Domesday master tapes at BBC Research in Surrey and was also one of the designers of the Transform decoder - Richard Russell - was also closely involved in the development of the BBC Micro and of BBC BASIC in particular.

• Jim Easterbrook, The BBC transform PAL decoder, February 2008
  • This is a personal website and thus doesn't meet the requirements of WP:RS. It does mention Russell's involvement in the PAL project. I have tagged it as dubious because it is not RS, please see WP:V#Self-published sources (online and paper)

• James Insell, From Videotape-based to File-based archives, DCC/LUCAS Workshop, December 2006, Frame 10
  • This won't download fully to my machine. AGF

• Mark Nelson, Colour conundrums, Everyday Practical Electronics, September 2008, page 16, ISSN 0262-3617
  • I have no access to this. AGF

• Charles Norton, Unscrambling an army of colours, The Guardian, 11 December 2008, page 3, ISSN 0261-3077
  • Software to recover the colour from black-and-white television recordings was developed by Richard Russell, rather than James Insell, although the technology was Insell's brainchild.
    • So therefore this is a reliable source.

• BBC Two, The Story of Are You Being Served?, 01 January 2010
  • I didn't check this as I don't have time at the moment to watch the programme via iPlayer and it won't be available for much longer. AGF
    • You don't need to watch the whole thing. Skip forward to 54:00:00 and watch the last few minutes - you will see Richard Russell appear on the program talking about his work on the colour restoration for the pilot episode of "Are You Being Served?".
      • It won't be available after 8 January, so it won't have any relevance after that.
• bb4w: BBC BASIC for Windows, BB4W Yahoo! Group, Yahoo! Groups
  • This requires sign up. It doesn't actually say that he runs the group so is not that useful.
    • If you sign up to it (as I have), you will see that he does run it.
      • You miss the point, sign up internet groups like this are not RS.

Overall, I would say that better sourcing from WP:RS should be sought. Jezhotwells (talk) 11:55, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

• There is information here from a PC magazine that clearly cites Richard for his work on BB4W. There is also information from a reputable broadsheet newspaper that cites Richard for his colour restoration work. The man himself appears on a documentary talking about his work on performing colour restoration for a BBC sitcom. What else is needed?
  • I have removed the COI tag, but the article could do with rewriting in a more encyclopaedic style, please read WP:MOS and the general guidelines on writing articles. Take a look at other biographies and see how they are laid out. Jezhotwells (talk) 14:09, 6 January 2010 (UTC)
    • Thank you for your diligence in this matter. Chithecynic (talk) 15:31, 6 January 2010 (UTC)