WIKINFO

'Wikinfo', formerly known as 'Internet-Encyclopedia' (renamed in January 2004), is an online encyclopedia and a fork of the English language Wikipedia^[1] initiated by Fred Bauder in July 2003. It is hosted by ibiblio.

Contents

Wikinfo policies

Importation and modification of articles

See also

References

Further reading

External links

Wikinfo policies

Rather than adopting Wikipedia's neutral point of view editorial policy, Wikinfo's policy on a contributor's point of view is to edit for a sympathetic point of view.^[2][3] This policy endeavors to present a subject or concept in a favorable light. A main article is written from a sympathetic point of view, described as "a way of encouraging a pluralism of content, rather than limiting content to an unattainable encyclopedic goal."^[4] A critical article in the style of ''"[Main article title]: A critical view"'' is likewise encouraged. A set of articles about a particular topic are split into a number of articles with a specified point of view—thus Wikinfo can have several points of view on each topic, each linked to the other at the top of the article.
Users of Wikinfo feel this policy is a way of escaping debilitating edit wars (disagreements in which wiki editors undo one another's changes repeatedly), which they perceive to be frequent on Wikipedia. They aim to avoid becoming "hamstrung by squabbling sysops getting legalistic about their biases," as Wikinfo user ''Proteus'' describes Wikipedia. Wikinfo: Village pump Some Wikinfo users appreciate the fact that their submissions are not edited as frequently as on Wikipedia.
Wikinfo accepts and encourages original research from their writers, and states: "Creativity and diversity are strongly encouraged in our articles. This means we do not encourage the capricious generation of factoids, but the deeper connections and discussion of new patterns revealed to us by other knowledge."^[5]

Importation and modification of articles

Wikinfo uses the GNU Free Documentation License for most of its text, which allows verbatim copying and modification as long as derivative works remain licensed under the same terms. Wikinfo also supports signed articles, which are not subject to substantial editing by others and can be released under another license.^[6] In contrast with Wikipedia, Wikinfo does not allow unregistered editing; this is done to prevent vandalism and protect users' privacy, as unregistered users still have their IP addresses publicly revealed and recorded. As of August 2007, there is some activity on Wikinfo, with several hundred edits per week. The site states that there are approximately one thousand user accounts and 29 administrators, including Bauder himself.^[7]
By August, 2007 Wikinfo had approximately 36,700 articles. The process of importing articles has been accelerated by using an interface called GetWiki, a highly modified version of release 1.1.0 of the MediaWiki software (2003) used to power Wikipedia and other websites. The intention of GetWiki's author, M.R.M. Parrott ("proteus"), was to add some new features to MediaWiki, but it was decided to fork the codebase from the MediaWiki project in January 2004.^[8] Instead of red links, GetWiki uses green links to point to articles which do not exist locally.
When the user follows such a link, GetWiki tries to dynamically fetch it from the wiki designated as an external source (in Wikinfo's case, the English Wikipedia), then renders and displays the article text. A local copy is created only if the page is edited. Effectively, Wikinfo therefore provides a transparent "wrapper" around Wikipedia pages which have not yet been copied.

See also

Other general-purpose wiki encyclopedias:

★ Wikiweise (German)

★ WikiZnanie (Russian)

★ Susning.nu (Swedish)

★ Enciclopedia Libre (Spanish)

★ Citizendium (English)

References

1. Can History Be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past, Roy Rosenzweig, , , The Journal of American History,
2. A Case of Mutual Aid: Wikipedia, Politeness, and Perspective Taking Joseph M. Reagle Jr.
3. Der Stein der Wikis Erik Möller
4. Wikinfo: Sympathetic point of view
5. Wikinfo:About
6. Wikinfo: Signed articles
7. Wikinfo:Statistics
8. GetWiki:1.0

Further reading

★ Klobas, Jane ''et al.'' (2006). ''Wikis: Tools for information work and collaboration''. Oxford: Chandos Publishing. ISBN 1-84334-178-6. . pp 45-46.

External links

★ Wikinfo main page (Main - FJB)

★ Comparisons to Wikipedia

★ GetWiki website (fork - proteus)