Re: Wiki as A Time Saver for Researchers

coolspeech_at_hotmail.com
Date: 09/15/04 

Date: 15 Sep 2004 10:34:34 -0700

Although I'm not an official spokesman for Wikipedia, interestingly I
met one who really is a Wiki professonal and responded to my message
("Wiki as A Time Saver for Researchers") at the newsgroup sci.research.

He ("David Mattison") seems to support my initiative and posted more
background information about Wiki under my original message.

I've noticed Wikipedia cofounder Larry Sanger did a lot of work on
scientific newsgroups to promote Wikipedia in 2001. (Search
http://groups.google.com for "author:lsanger@nupedia.com"). That is the
first year of Wikipedia, a much harder time to convince people to use
Wiki than now.

I posted my original message to several sci.* newsgroups, and really
attracted some discussions on this idea. These discussions make me see
a chance of pushing my idea a step toward reality: maybe I should
prepare Wikipedia pages for every sci.* newsgroup.

Some sci/engineering newsgroups (mostly the comp.* ones) use FAQ
(frequently asked questions) pages to organize common
problems/solutions and prevent repeated discussions. FAQs are text
controlled by newsgroup moderators and thus their content is limited. I
think, if every sci.* newsgroup is equipped with a Wiki main page, it
can well serve the original purpose of FAQ. There can be a message
periodically announcing the URL and "What's New" of the Wiki page for a
newsgroup.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: c.l.c wiki update
    ... > Now that basic support for moderation exists, feedback, particularly from ... > * is it acceptable/desirable to host the comp.lang.c FAQ on such a wiki? ... Wikipedia to be openly edited by anyone, ...
    (comp.lang.c)
  • Re: c.l.c wiki update
    ... is it acceptable/desirable to host the comp.lang.c FAQ on such a wiki? ... Much virtual ink has been spilled of late about the alleged unreliability of Wikipedia; that debate seems to have spilled over even into the sacred, ... could probably get away with a little more control (aka ...
    (comp.lang.c)
  • Re: Wiki as A Time Saver for Researchers
    ... > Although I'm not an official spokesman for Wikipedia, ... > background information about Wiki under my original message. ... > prepare Wikipedia pages for every sci.* newsgroup. ... > controlled by newsgroup moderators and thus their content is limited. ...
    (sci.optics)
  • Re: Defining Sci.Electronics.Design on Wikipedia
    ... Does this mean SED is not worthy of a Wiki definition? ... Anybody have any good descriptions for SED on Wikipedia? ... He was told to move it to Wikibooks: ... A newsgroup 'mostly' with discussions on advanced electronics ...
    (sci.electronics.design)
  • Re: RCM wiki database
    ... the same software that wikipedia ... One wiki is wiki.algebra.com and another is a financial planning wiki ... for misc.invest.financial-plan newsgroup. ...
    (rec.crafts.metalworking)