[Foundation-l] Enforcing WP:CITE the Soi case

Sat Dec 3 22:50:39 UTC 2005

SJ wrote:

>On 12/2/05, Brian <brian0918 at gmail.com> wrote:
>  
>
>>http://mail.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2005-December/005312.html
>>
>>I especially like the option to include "cited text" and "paraphrase".
>>So, as his sample image shows, we can essentially cite every bit of an
>>article, thus becoming as sourced as any published book or encyclopedia,
>>but better!.. because our sources are public, whereas with Britannica,
>>    
>>
>That would be more sourced than most published books or encyclos.
>
>We can also track and show (as mouseover text?) the contributed-date
>and contributing-user for every word/set of words in an article. 
>There are a few nuances in getting the attribution right, but we can
>at least offer a first-approximation without much work.  Figuring out
>how to effectively store and render that information, is another
>question...
>
"King Disrupters" do not thrive by shying away from ambitious projects. :-)

I haven't a clue about the technical feasibility of this idea.  Since 
this seems like a move from the presentation of the world's knowledge to 
the integration of the world's knowledge.  That would certainly 
represent a fulfilment of freeing the world's knowledge in the sense 
that Jimbo expressed in his Wikimania speech.  Every quantum of 
knowledge would be connected with every other quantum of knowledge.

The first reference approximation involves nothing more than adding 
broad references in a separate section near the end of an article.  
Annotations or "foot"notes whcich relate to discrete segments of a text 
are really a second approximation.  The main text must be readable to 
the average reader whose interests do not require in depth study; having 
unwanted pop-up mouse-overs does not endear the reader to any project.

As Gerard pointed out we also need to keep connected with the average 
contributor, to who we already owe much.  He still has a lot to say and 
a lot to offer.  We would be delighted if he could provide full 
bibliographical support for his own material, but a more realistic 
expectation would be a single link.  we don't want to fall into soome 
new form of academic elitism.

I can now understand why some material may need to be kept unavailable 
to the public through us. If we are going to connect everything that 
must include copyright material which can only be caged in inaccesible 
archives until it can be set free.

Ec