[WikiEN-l] A case for recipes and how-tos

Tue Feb 24 18:16:18 UTC 2004

Please forgive me if you've seen this rant elsewhere or if I've already ranted it here.  I've been ranting it here and there and not getting very much discussion. This is essentially what I posted recently in the Village Pump. 

Appropriate how-to's should have a place in Wikipedia. I am beginning to feel this more and more. I agree that "Wikipedia articles should not be mere sets of instructions, but additionally provide historical context and further information." However, I am somewhat bemused by the apparent consensus that instructional articles are not encyclopedic. Given 

a) the derivation of the word (-paideia, teaching or instruction), 
b) the historical origins of the Britannica, where "utility" was a chief feature of the mission, 
c) The lack of any deprecation on the What Wikipedia is Not page, 
d) The apparent endorsement on the Wikipedia:How-to page, 
I don't think articles should not be excluded merely on the basis of being how-tos. 

An ideal encyclopedia should contain the elements of a full course of general education. Just because something could go in a textbook doesn't mean it should be excluded from an encyclopedia. An encyclopedia is a textbook--a comprehensive textbook, and "instruction" belongs in it as well as "information." 

That's what I said in the Pump. Rambling on. I like that line "Wikipedia articles should not be mere sets of instructions, but additionally provide historical context and further information." I remember when my wife and I took a scuba course, circa 1970, and learned many things in the context of This Is The Way You Dive. Which it was, if you wanted to get PADI certification. Later, we encountered other divers from other countries and discovered that many of the things we had been taught as holy writ were merely _a_ way to dive.

So, yes, how-to's should ideally carry cultural context, an indication of the date and time, an indication of the "school" to which the how-to belongs ("this is how you write a barbershop arrangements _that meets SPEBSQSA contest requirements as of 2004;" "this is a recipe for sweet potato pie _as prepared in Virginia in 1970_," etc.) Controversies should be noted ("Some insist on mace in a Georgian flip, others maintain that only nutmeg is correct"). Intelligent discussion should surround the how-to.

One more thought. Childrens' encyclopedias, such as the Book of Knowledge and Childcraft, _always_ have contained how-to's.  

And encyclopedias have always contained what might be called vague how-to's or how-to-LIKE articles. You can't actually build an atomic bomb from the article that once appeared in the Encyclopedia Americana, but IIRC it contained enough practical details to cause some concern.  The 1911 Britannica won't really tell you exactly how to build a lighthouse, but there is certainly a lot of detailed how-to-like information on the specifics of lighthouse lens design, what must be taken into account in choosing a suitable island, special concerns in building the masonry, etc. I believe it tells you how to do the mathematical calculations to properly curve a railroad track... things like that.