Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost/Drafts/Library of Wikipedia

A counterpoint: Library cards

Before I start picking this proposal apart, I want to say that there are good concepts buried in this, and that I think it's great that Wer900 came up with it.

I do believe that the WMF can and should use their clout to open doors for the Wikipedia community when it comes to sourcing. We've seen Creedo and Highbeam approach Wikipedia and offer a set number of subscriptions for editors to use. I have no idea how much involvement the WMF had in those, and similar, license donations, but the wording of the announcements doesn't suggest that it was very much. I think that a lot of good could be done if the WMF went out of their way to approach similar sourcing websites and ask for them to give Wikipedia a set number of licenses. English Wikipedia has demonstrated that once it has access to a set number of licenses, it can set up a functional distribution system for those licenses, there's no issue on that end. And it wouldn't cost a cent, save for the salary that the WMF employee doing the outreach is being paid anyways.

However I really don't like the rest of this proposal. To be blunt, I see a lot of concepts being pulled together in a way that doesn't really work. Setting up an entirely new project to just to acquire sources, with its own administrators and user-rights, is complicated enough before you even get into the issue of funding. It doesn't strike me as being something in the purview of the the funds dissemination committee. If anything it would be a line item in the WMF budget itself. But even if the logistics of setting up a new project and the funding situation are sorted out, the idea still has fundamental problems. If we're buying a book that an editor requested, we're helping an editor work on a small number of articles that the specific book can provide sourcing for. Books are expensive: a $100 encyclopedia of battleships could be used in fifty articles, but not alone, it'd need a half dozen companion books, each with smaller scopes. It'd need one editor, or a small team of highly coordinated editors, to be in possession of the books and working on the article at the same time, otherwise the sourcing would be chunky and poor. In other words, doing it right quickly becomes not only expensive, but a logistical nightmare. Then there's the ownership issue: who owns the book? If it's one editor, the money spent is only providing value as long as that one editor is using it. If he or she becomes inactive, the investment ceases providing value. If it's the movement as a whole that owns the book, who decides how long someone can use it? Who decides who it goes to next? Who pays for shipping if one editor is in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the next one is in Cambridge, England? Who is responsible for a lost or damaged book, and how? Another logistical nightmare. And really, the English Wikipedia Arbitration Committee isn't equipped to handle sorting it all out, especially as if this were implemented, it wouldn't be restricted to just English Wikipedia, but also every other language.

But there is a way to get editors the books they need, without having to deal with ownership, and at very low cost. It also doesn't necessarily require the assistance of the WMF, although them throwing their weight or cash behind the effort wouldn't be a bad thing. We should invest in library cards. Having a library card allows an editor to get whatever sourcing books they need, when they need them. It doesn't restrict editors to using the three or four books they purchased or that are in their area. Many public libraries don't charge for library cards. For those that do, local chapters should negotiate for a group/insitutional card that members can share, and then buy that. If there isn't a local chapter, then and only then should we even begin consider using WMF personnel and resources. Many chapters have equipment banks with things like cameras or sound recorders for editors to use, why not library cards?

I believe that an increased effort in acquiring access to online source repositories and a drive to get library cards into the hands of editors can get people the sources they need, when they need them. It won't solve the issue of 200,000 unsourced articles, (that will require a lot of dedication and a shift in the editing community's priorities), but it certainly will help.

Sven Manguard Wha? 01:19, 8 September 2012 (UTC)

Minor question

Could someone figure out how the formatting got completely destroyed here? The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 23:21, 28 November 2012 (UTC)