[Wikipedia-l] Children's Wikipedia

Sun Sep 22 16:20:15 UTC 2002

Daniel Alston wrote:

>There are other lnaguage wikipedias, so why not a childrens one?
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Although there is commendable intent to this suggestion, the possible 
problems make it unworkable.  This is without considering any possible 
technical ones about which I claim complete ignorance.

What age level would this be aimed at, considering both content and 
reading ability?

Who among us is competent to say what kind of vocabulary is readable by 
children?

A single class in school often includes a wide variety of reading 
abilities; how can we account for that?

How do we account for extreme variation in reading abilities between 
countries, between states and even between school districts?

How do we account for children who are readers of English as a Second 
Language?

How do we account for different views about the content that is 
appropriate for children?  At one end of the spectrum are those people 
who censor out anything questionable; at the other end are those who 
feel that children should have everything available to them providing 
there is appropriate guidance.

If there is a children's Wikipedia, what would prevent children from 
visiting the regular Wikipedia?

For all the above my feeling is that a children's Wikipedia would be a 
wasted effort, and a non-starter.

Eclecticology