WikiScience
WikiScience[edit]
Ok here is my proposal:
Wikipedia as it stands is an incredible resource, but it is sorely lacking in technical articles. These are the types of articles you would find in a scientific encyclopedia such as CRC Handbook. There is a web site, http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ (Mathworld), that accomplishes this perfectly in a web-based format for mathematics. However, Mathworld has several problems;
- Mathworld as it stands is operated and updated by just one man, Eric Weisstein. For such as huge resource of technical math and science information, this is simply inadequate. Furthermore, with the huge advances in math and science, it cannot be updated rapidly.
- While original at the time, Mathworld has since been eclipsed by Wikipedia. The sheer volume of wikipedia plus the amount of people who contribute is no comparison.
Here is how WikiScience will address those problems and others:
- WikiScience will be a technical encyclopedia for science and math, partnered with Wikipedia, therefore allowing technical information to be free to the world, much like Mathworld and other sites.
Why I use the word "technical" is because, right now, Wikipedia is not a technical encyclopedia, that is, it is not an encyclopedia a someone doing scientific or mathematical research can rely on. This is EXTEMELY important because one thing we all need to understand is that the more valuable and usable the article is, the more people will likely respect the source and want to contribute to it. It is a virtuous cycle. If WikiScience is held to a certain rigor and standard, higher than that of Wikipedia yet lower than that of a conventional encyclopedia, more people will actually seek out the technical information and therefore help the site grow. However, it is important to note that "technical" is a spectrum, and that these articles will not nessecarily be as in depth as say, a Scientific journal, it would be more technical than anything currently on Wikipedia in math and science.
This will be accomplished by not allowing just anyone to edit the articles, but only users, or perhaps a high level of power. I havent decided yet. If anyone has any ideas please comment. The idea is that the ideas that go into this branch of Wikipedia are going to be checked for validity and truth before being put in the article, allowing for a higher technical standard. Why? Because unlike normal articles, in a technical article everything needs to be correct as it can possibly be before it is published. This is true especially in mathematics where the logical consistancy of the entire article may be compromised by a single seemingly small mistake. Contrast this to say, the Michael Jackson trial article, where a small detail such as what shoes one of his lawyers were wearing, would not compramise the entire article. With a technical article, it would.
Don't get me wrong, this is still going to be Wiki based and anyone can recommend something be added, but as Eric has to check every proposed entry to his site, WikiScience will have many "Erics" (perhaps thousands) doing the same thing. This will be a dramatic improvement over Mathworld and the like.
- WikiScience, unlike a traditional technical encyclopedia, will still be WIKI based, and therefore will constantly be collecting up-to-date research that is demanded for math and science, which are progressing faster than ever.
This is the beauty of it; WikiScience will gain the respect of those in the research community by first offering technical articles, then allowing the public to actively contribute, much like Mathworld, but instead there will be thousands of Erics allowing for thousands more articles and the lastest information! If executed correctly, it will truly change the planet. Wikipedia, with its large avid user community and huge reader base, is the perfect place to start.
How will we get the "techical" articles? Like any other encyclopedia, many people will have to do some hard work. This may include searching and reading online peer review journals, manually paraphrasing technical handbooks, and so on. I am prepared to do my fair share but I don't want to do it alone. If you are interested in the WikiScience idea or have comments please comment here or at my talk page. Look at it this way; something like this is going to happen eventually...wouldnt it be great if we could make it happen right now and you could be a part of it?