[Olpc-open] A Wikipedia for Children.

Wed Mar 16 05:09:04 EDT 2016

Thanks for all your comments guys. 

Yes, a separate searchable space within Wikipedia would be great. Unfortunately, Simple English Wikipedia is not specifically oriented to young children in the way I have tried to show with my prototype. There is always a temptation to try and put far too much content on a single page rather than spread it over a series of pages like a slide show presentation. And the language is still not simple enough. It should only be as advanced as is required to convey the simplest of basics, any further material being accessible via links. One key requirement should be a search facility that only turns up child-oriented material. There is a schools section within the Simple English Wikipedia, but the search facility on these pages takes one back to the general content. I’ve tried to talk with the Wikipedians about this, but it is hard to get hold of anyone with the authority to discuss these issues - which is why I came to the OLPC with the concept.

Barry

> On 13 Mar 2016, at 11:37, Sven AERTS <svenaerts228 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> OMG that Simple English portal page of the wikipedia has a dedicated page for schools/teachers/kids.  Barry, I think this is what you've been looking for:
> https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Schools <https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Schools>
> 
> !
> 
> On Sun, Mar 13, 2016 at 11:26 AM, Sven AERTS <svenaerts228 at gmail.com <mailto:svenaerts228 at gmail.com>> wrote:
> Hi Barry, hi Samuel,
> 
> Quiz: On the wikipedia, in the navigation pane on the left, under the section "Languages" , there is a "language" / category mentioned that is not a language and intended for a specific public. What is the name of that "language"?
> 
> "Languages"
> Simple English <https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/>
> 
> The Simple English Wikipedia is a Wikipedia <https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia> encyclopedia <https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encyclopedia>, written in basic English <https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_English>.[1] <https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_English_Wikipedia#cite_note-1>
> Articles in the Simple English Wikipedia use shorter sentences and simpler words <https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Words> and grammar <https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammar> than the English Wikipedia <https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Wikipedia>.
> The Simple English Wikipedia is also for people with different needs. Some examples of people who use Simple English Wikipedia:
> Students <https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Student>
> Children <https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children>
> Adults <https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adult> who might find it hard to learn or read
> People who are learning English <https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language>
> Other people use the Simple English Wikipedia because the simple language helps them understand hard ideas or topics they do not know about.
> Right now, the Simple English Wikipedia has 117,857 articles. As of October 2015, it was the 49th largest Wikipedia
> 
> On Sun, Mar 13, 2016 at 3:32 AM, Samuel Klein <sj at laptop.org <mailto:sj at laptop.org>> wrote:
> Hi Barry, this looks like an excellent candidate to merge with Vikidia.  Have you worked with them or their community of children and teachers? 
> 
> https://en.vikidia.org/wiki/Main_Page <https://en.vikidia.org/wiki/Main_Page>
> 
> Warmly, SJ
> 
> On Sat, Mar 12, 2016 at 11:10 AM, Barry Desborough <barry.desborough at gmail.com <mailto:barry.desborough at gmail.com>> wrote:
> Hello, I’m Barry Desborough, a retired teacher who taught in English primary and secondary schools. 
> 
> I have been trying, on and off, to get an idea off the ground. It is for a free, online, child-oriented encyclopedia. I have tried approaching Wikipedia itself, the Khan Academy and the California CK-12 initiative, and I have paid for and started to develop a  Wikispaces site "Wikidia dot net" to show how the idea works. Unfortunately, I was not able to rustle up enough contributors to be able to justify continuing to pay for the site, and for various reasons, the other sites are not a good match for the project idea.
> 
> What’s a child-oriented encyclopedia? It’s an encyclopedia that a child, on their own, may go to and navigate for themselves, to find age-appropriate educational content of interest to them. Pages should be brief, and as simple as possible for conveying the information. The pages should also be suitable for directed learners, and usable as teaching material by educators. Wikipedia content, as is used by the OLPC Digital Library, is not generated with the needs of children in mind. I have an old prototype of the idea still on the net at https://wikids.wikispaces.com/Index+1 <https://wikids.wikispaces.com/Index+1> which should give the general idea.
> 
> I am looking for a new home for this project, and it occurred to me that the OLPC might be able to host it, and encourage other contributions of suitable content, either from educators, or from children themselves, wiki-style. Generating content for it should provide a great motivational incentive for classes of pupils! There’s constructivism for you! All it would need would be a separate searchable wiki on the OLPC website. I would be happy to spend the rest of my retirement generating, curating and moderating content for such a wiki, and I would be willing to contribute a substantial (for me) sum in order to help get the thing started and keep it going.
> 
> With the cost and producing and distributing textbooks is so high, and in a world where teachers are unavailable or too expensive but cheap internet technology is becoming ever more accessible, I believe far more attention should be paid to providing accessible, high quality, appropriately pitched educational content.
> 
> Is there anyone on the list with the authority to pick this up, or has contacts with such people?
> 
> What are your thoughts on the idea?
> 
> Regards
> 
> Barry
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> Samuel Klein          @metasj          w:user:sj          +1 617 529 4266 <tel:%2B1%20617%20529%204266>
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