KH wrote:
I read the link thoroughly. I can see a gap in your
definition: A reading
textbook used in the elementary school level. All texts at very early
grades are fiction to motivate and relate to very young readers. Plus early
grades are still learning sounds so you have to make up stories that contain
only sounds that have been learned. So the definition is most definitely
not complete. You would not find an early reader on the fiction bookshelf at
a store. They are purchased as a textbook.
Not to be a welt on your tush but I am not convinced of the definition of
what a wikibook is.
-Kathy
The very definition of a textbook is something that has been something
of a major discussion from time to time on Wikibooks. While there is
certainly some grey areas that can be explored in detail, nearly
everything on Wikibooks usually has to have some sort of educational
goals of some sort or another as justification for remaining. And the
stronger the case that you can make for educational applications of the
content, the more likely it will remain on Wikibooks. This is precisely
the issue that has revolved around video game guides, something that has
been removed from Wikibooks recently in large numbers.
Keep in mind that the purpose for establishing Wikibooks in the first
place was to help provide a place to write a chemistry textbook that was
otherwise inappropriate for Wikipedia. Karl Wick, the original
"founder" of Wikibooks, started writing this textbook on Wikipedia and
the content was voted off of Wikipedia as being "not encyclopedic".
Jimbo Wales, the big chief at the time, encouraged Karl to continue to
develop the idea and agreed that a new project should be started. That
is why this mailing list is called the "Wikimedia Textbook Discussion"
instead of "Wikibooks Mailing List", as this mailing list pre-dates even
the establishment of Wikibooks itself. Even before the name "Wikibooks"
was chosen as the name. BTW, other names have been considered,
including the name "Wikiversity" as the name of this project.
Wikiversity as an idea has been transformed from another name for
Wikibooks to its own completely independent project.
As I pointed out earlier, there may be some room for fictional content
of this very limited nature, but it must be designed with strict
criteria intended to meet specific educational goals. Perhaps even
meeting explicit core curriculum objectives of specific school districts
or state boards of education. That doesn't seem to be the proposal that
is being offered here, but rather an attempt to expand the scope of
Wikibooks to include any sort of fictional content.
-- Robert Horning