Wikiversity:Colloquium/archives/February 2010

Motivation for contributing to Wikipedia/Wikiversity

I was told this is the place to ask questions. This is to people who are contributing.

Needless to mention that I'm a newbie. I was really impressed by the contributions people had in WIKIPEDIA.

The question isn't a productive one for either of us or shall I say it is in a way. I could write for improvement on articles for no less than 16hrs/day.

Q: Do you get paid for this work? OR What are the benefits, monetary or otherwise, one could have by a great contribution like yours?

The answer can't be recognition as all this can and will be deleted or changed or updated, probably before I die. It is true that change is constant and inevitable but creation that lasts the longest is more powerful. Thinking of writing an article or contributing so much that lasts for 100 years after I die (like you did) but need more out of it for the time I live.

I could do a lot of this if I get anything out of it, I think. Rather this is what I love to do. But I also love money. I don't want to do it as a selfless service as of now. I'd better have my own blog to document my thought process that no one could edit. I know wikipedia is an encyclopedia, needs existing knowledge and isn't a book about undocumented inventions, theories or simply ideas but I'm equally good at this. I've thoroughly studied all the articles from Getting started onwards (still a lot to learn on formatting). I was learning some Wikipedia's own rule for using bold and italic. I simply loved the fundas.

IF there is no answer then I probably have this feeling of 'giving back to the society and getting contentment by the selfless work' post 65yrs of age.

Hopefully I'll have an honest and helpful answer.

P.S: I do not want you to take this message de-motivating in anyway. If you have a slightest of that feeling in the corner of your heart please feel free to delete it and do not care to reply. You've done an amazing job buddy and I don't want you to rethink on your credits due to this scribble of mine.

--Amit Bhise 07:25, 1 February 2010 (UTC)

Welcome to Wikiversity, Amit. Wikiversity is a non-profit organization. I don't get paid for contributing to Wikiversity. There may be some people who are paid by their job to contribute to Wikiversity, but Wikiversity does not pay anyone, and I don't know of anyone who is paid by their job to contribute.

People have different motivations for contributing to Wikiversity (and for supporting Wikiversity with monetary donations for that matter). Some people may be motivated because they feel contributing will earn them recognition. Some people may be motivated by selflessness. Some people may feel that learning should be free, or that charging people for an education is wrong, and will be motivated by that to volunteer their time helping to make learning free. Some people may feel like they have an obligation to help others and be motivated by that.

What motivates a person can directly effect what benefit that person sees in contributing to Wikiversity. A person being paid by their job might see a limited monetary benefit to contributing to Wikiversity. Someone whose motivated by a feeling of obligation might see helping others as the benefit. Someone who feels that learning should be free might see contributing to a free resource for learning as a benefit. There is no one correct answer. The answer depends on the person and what you make of the answer. Giving back is also a possible answer.

All in all, people find Wikiversity a useful resource.

Wikiversity does welcome your ideas and theories as part of any learning you wish to do. Wikiversity is different from Wikipedia in that way. -- darklama  12:35, 1 February 2010 (UTC)

First, do you realize that this is Wikiversity, not Wikipedia ? Here the rules are a bit different, and you can indeed have your own research or project area that nobody else can edit.

Now, as for the basic motivation, I recently watched a documentary, "The Human Spark", which studied differences between humans and other animals. One that's pertinent here is that humans seem to have an innate desire to teach. Why should this be ? Well, being that we are social animals and rely on one another for survival, helping out other humans is likely to help you and your family, say if they return the favor and help you out some day. This was far more likely when we lived in small groups, but, thankfully, many people still feel the desire to help others who are very distant from them.

Another way to look at it is that it's essentially the same motivation as those who give to charity, such as donations to Haiti. Some give out of altruistic motivations, some so they will feel better about themselves, some so they will be recognized by others, etc.

Finally, I suggest you use better titles for any additional questions, as "A question" tells us nothing about what you are asking. "Motivation for contributing to Wikipedia/Wikiversity ?" would be a good title. StuRat 14:54, 1 February 2010 (UTC)

Japanese edits

User:Okanosato was previously blocked (June 2009) for 6 months for putting up copyrighted material in their user section. They are now posting up quite a fair amount of Japanese pages. Another user, Gogochiben, did the same and I blocked them for one day until I sort everything out (others can extend it if necessary). However, both cause us a certain problem - we are not the Japanese Wikiversity, and it is hard for us to check copyright. How shall we deal with this issue as a community? Should we contact the Japanese Wikiversity? Beta? Ask for some cross over? Etc. Ottava Rima (talk) 21:50, 1 February 2010 (UTC)

Yep, contact either (or both) Japanese WV or WP to help sort things out. --Gbaor 09:39, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

Wikiversity discussion at strategy.wiki

Please come and visit the Wikiversity discussion at strategy.wiki so we can make any suggestions, recommendations, etc, to the WMF for future planning. Ottava Rima (talk) 15:24, 2 February 2010 (UTC)

I put a few words in. Mbrad 04:51, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

UK government adopts Creative Commons licenses for open data

Just a short note that might interest people in here. Free databases! --Gbaor 09:42, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

"Contact us" page needed

I have recently found out that we lack a "contact us" page and anything notifying people about OTRS and other information that would help allow for the creation of educational content here. I was advised that Wiktionary's model would be a good model to follow. We should also develop an information page that would allow for educators to process their work through OTRS to allow previously released items to be released under Wikiversity's GFDL requirements. Once a "contact us" page is created, it would be necessary to have it on the Navigation bar to the left of the screen. Ottava Rima (talk) 21:25, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

Wikiversity already has Wikiversity:Contact. I assume there was/is likely a reason why there isn't a link on the navigation bar. I don't know what that reason is though. Why is having this on the navigation bar necessary? I only ask to encourage community discussion. -- darklama  22:06, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

What if we added a list of active users (maybe sysops?) to the contact page, along with links to their talk page and email addresses? That might make this page more useful. Not sure we should have that page on the nav bar - colloquium/help desk should be enough for most Q&A needs - but maybe this page should have a more prominent link somewhere? --Trinity507 00:48, 5 February 2010 (UTC)

English language and literature for teens

English language and literature for teens: My new pet project, in addition to the School:Ethnology - I noticed there doesn't seem to be a lot of secondary-level English. Two questions of mine would be, one, are there any teen participants on WV that would like to help me out? And two, I was also thinking of running a "school newspaper" through this department, if I could find enough teenaged partipants (I'm a teen not actually at university but at the tertiary level in everything except math, for the record), and on a slightly less important level, if I could think of a good title for such a newsletter/paper/blog/etc. A little help? --Trinity507 20:53, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

Speaking of, an interesting w:Wikipedia:Wikivoices episode about minors and Wikimedia (specifically Wikipedia) that might be relevant to this project: w:Wikipedia:Wikivoices/Episode 50 --Trinity507 22:15, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

CSD of images by user request

I wanted to ask how the community feels about possible CSD via user request. I deleted three images - File:6barvariableE.jpg, File:6bartrussEAConst.jpg, File:5 bar awesomeness.jpg, based on the uploader stating they were no longer needed. Their project still links the pages. Should we delete such images based on the uploader request or should we keep them for longevity (i.e. document what was there before)? If that is what we decide, then we should discuss the matter with the instructors of classes uploading such images. By the way, if anyone wants the images restored then I have no problem with that. Ottava Rima (talk) 21:58, 1 February 2010 (UTC)

Really, if the uploader wants an image deleted, it should definitely be, imho. Pmlineditor ∞ 11:25, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

I think that it should depend on the file. I would be inclined to favor keeping files which are of a good quality, and have a decently descriptive name. Once a person submits or uploads their own work they have given everyone a right to reuse their work, and they cannot just decide to take that back. -- darklama  13:09, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

Advancement in reviewing questions

At project opening it has been declared:

Eventually, it may become possible for the Wikiversity research community to facilitate publishing of peer-reviewed research reports that would be recognized as a reliable source, able to be cited in sister projects such as Wikipedia and Wikibooks.

I wish to ask, whether there is an advancement in this direction at other language sections of Wikiversity SergeyJ 16:48, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

I don't think there has been any advancement in that area yet. I don't think any Wikiversities have even a decent answer yet as to how Wikiversity can facilitate peer-review. Whether Wikiversity will ever be recognized as a reliable source will probably be up to sister projects to decide. I think the only thing Wikiversity can do is to try to meet some standard that sister projects can accept. I think that might require Wikiversity initiating discussion with other projects on what it can do to become recognized as a reliable source. -- darklama  17:04, 9 February 2010 (UTC)

Whether and there are in English Wikiversity reviews, researches which could be recognised by authentic sources? (Would like such to become?) Can be eat desire to discuss this point in question from English Wikipedie (me it difficult as I do not know English)? SergeyJ 00:50, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

Please support GIFT format and extensions

Please log in (or create an account on) Bugzilla and please vote for bug 22475 to support the GIFT format and extensions for assessment content in addition to Quiz table markup. Please discuss at the MediaWiki Quiz extension talk page. Thank you! --99.38.150.200 01:43, 12 February 2010 (UTC)

english

--122.173.149.31 04:55, 16 February 2010 (UTC)

Call for proposals for Wikimedia UK initiatives

Hi all. The Wikimedia UK board has been putting together a budget for the next year (You can see this, and help with its development, here) and we have some money left over. We are looking for proposals for projects/iniatives with budget requirements in the range of £100-£3000 (GBP). These projects can be either online or offline, but they should be primarily focused on the UK and they must further the objects of Wikimedia UK (broadly, to collate/develop/spread freely licensed material).

The deadline for proposals is the end of this month (i.e. 0:00 UTC on 1 March 2010). You can find more details of the requirements, and how to submit proposals, on our blog. Thanks. Mike Peel 23:18, 17 February 2010 (UTC)

Clean Delete Reasons?

Hi everyone. I was thinking of adding the CleanDeleteReasons gadget here. It should help in navigation of the deletion logs and will also help to hide vandalism from the logs. If no one objects, I will implement this after a week or so. Cheers, Pmlineditor ∞ 13:46, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

I already added that gadget. -- darklama  16:03, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Any additional or more detailed information about this gadget? --Gbaor 18:27, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

When the delete link is clicked the "other delete reason" field usually includes a bit of the page's contents. This gadget removes that. -- darklama  19:08, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

I edited a page without logging in

I did an edit on my original research project, with out logging in. I noted it on the discussion page. Its not a big deal, but given this is my research I guess I want to make it clear that I answered the questions and not some random person. Per darklama's suggestion, I made a change while logged out, confirming my IP address.

Any other suggestions? --Charles Jeffrey Danoff 02:36, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

Copyright concerns with a project

Please see. Ottava Rima (talk) 15:04, 27 February 2010 (UTC)

Comment added. Historybuff 01:27, 28 February 2010 (UTC)

K-12 / Primary resources

I remember that there were a bunch of K-12 focused resources hanging around somewhere -- I think we had talked about projects like OLPC's Sugar OS (Now it's own project) and other FLOSS targeted at this age group. Did this get reorganized or removed, or am I recalling incorrectly? Historybuff 01:52, 28 February 2010 (UTC)

Study course for O'Levels

--Salmankhanpisces 11:02, 19 February 2010 (UTC) Well the headline says it all. I'm an O'Level student and I happend to stumble upon Wikiversity while trying to find ways to support wikipedia [with my knowledge of course]. I randomly ended up on the page about pH and noticed that it had a lot of knowledge that was not required by the O'Levels syllabus and this unrequired information [that is to say,unrequired for O'Levels students] has made learning rather difficult.

I would like a system somewhat like this: There should be a different WikiProject for the different educational systems. perhaps something like a different URL address for the different learning systems. for example: http://en.wikiversity.org/olevel/pH The contents of such pages will only relate to the knowledge required by the system this will drastically improve the learning curve of students

If such a system already exists then I request that it should be easy to find and navigate to.

If it is possible to create such a system [or a similar one which fulfills the requirements] please make tell me about this.

Please tell me if such a system is even possible and if it is not then is there an alternate solution?

Please discuss and reach a solution. --Salmankhanpisces 11:02, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

• You have basically a free hand to explore on wikiversity. You may open a page like Chemistry O-level or even pH for the O-level student. Wikiversity is yours to use; set up the system in the way that suits you. Regards, Hillgentleman | //\\ |Talk 15:57, 28 February 2010 (UTC)
• One more thing, you may put the pages in suitable categories, like category:chemistry and category:O-level or category:study notes Hillgentleman | //\\ |Talk 16:00, 28 February 2010 (UTC)

Advice requested - how do I contribute maths content to Wikiversity?

I am completely new to Wikiversity and am finding it very difficult to find how I contribute teaching software and course notes (already written) to the math section. I have a teaching resource in mathematical group theory - a sort of 'teach yourself' package. I am offering it for the benefit of students and interested amateurs. Please, does this offer qualify and, if so, what do I actually do to upload it?

Also I have looked at some of the algebra pages and there seems little of value on them. They were last updated in 2009. Has this project stalled for want of effort?

JMC Jmc 17:49, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Hi! If you want to contribute with learning resources to WV, you are most welcomed to do so! Since you are a newcomer to the site (and probably also to the Mediawiki environment) you should check out Help:The original tour for newcomers or Wikipedia tutorial first. This will answer the basic questions and provide useful information about text formatting issues. We have also a teacher-orientated tour at WV. Here you find some help regarding to mathematical formulas.

In the first step just copy the text resources and later you can deal with formatting and categorization issues. Feel free to ask any additional questions here or contact me, if you require any assistance. --Gbaor 18:25, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Right. You can start with Group theory: teach yourself or teach yourself group theory. Don't worry too much about the formats. Wikiversiters can fix them for you. Hillgentleman | //\\ |Talk 06:56, 2 March 2010 (UTC)