Wikinfo

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Wikinfo
Image:Wikiowl.gif
Wikinfo logo
URL http://www.wikinfo.org/
Commercial? No
Type of site Internet encyclopedia project
Registration available
Available language(s) English
Owner ibiblio
Created by Various

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

Contents

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.[5] Some Wikinfo users appreciate the fact that their submissions are not edited as frequently as on Wikipedia.[5]

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."[6]

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.[7] 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.[8] The site states that there are approximately one thousand user accounts and 29 administrators, including Bauder himself.[8]

By December 2007 Wikinfo had approximately 37,700 articles. The process of importing articles had 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.[9] 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.

Wikinfo no longer uses GetWiki.

Although there are no subdomains on Wikinfo to separate articles of different languages, Wikinfo allows articles in languages other than English and requests that articles on the same topic in different languages link to each other.[10] Existing links to Wikipedia articles in other languages are retained in the case of articles copied from Wikipedia.

Other general-purpose wiki encyclopedias:

  1. ^ Roy Rosenzweig (June 2006). "Can History Be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past". The Journal of American History 93 (1). Organization of American Historians. 
  2. ^ Joseph M. Reagle Jr. (2004). A Case of Mutual Aid: Wikipedia, Politeness, and Perspective Taking.
  3. ^ Erik Möller (2005-04-11). Der Stein der Wikis (German). Telepolis.
  4. ^ Wikinfo: Sympathetic point of view. Retrieved on 2006-09-12.
  5. ^ a b Wikinfo: Village pump. Retrieved on 2006-09-12.
  6. ^ Wikinfo:About. Retrieved on 2006-12-22.
  7. ^ Wikinfo: Signed articles. Retrieved on 2006-09-12.
  8. ^ a b Wikinfo:Statistics. Retrieved on 2007-08-09.
  9. ^ GetWiki:1.0. Retrieved on 2007-02-07.
  10. ^ Wikinfo:About/Purpose. Retrieved on 2007-09-25.

  • Klobas, Jane et al. (2006). Wikis: Tools for information work and collaboration. Oxford: Chandos Publishing. ISBN 1-84334-178-6. OCLC 63136958. pp 45-46.

v • d • e
History of Wikipedia
Main articles Bomis · Nupedia · Wikipedia · Wikimedia Foundation · Wikimania · MediaWiki
People Jimmy Wales · Larry Sanger · Tim Shell · Florence Devouard · Angela Beesley
Events and individuals Blocking of Wikipedia in mainland China · Congressional staffer edits to Wikipedia · Essjay controversy · Seigenthaler controversy · WikiScanner  · Chris Benoit controversy  · Truth in Numbers: The Wikipedia Story
Wikimedia projects Wikibooks · Wikimedia Commons · Wiktionary · Wikisource · Wikiquote · Wikinews · Wikiversity
Related projects and forks Citizendium · Enciclopedia Libre · Interpedia · Veropedia · WikiZnanie · Wikinfo · Wikiweise · Wikia · WikiWikiWeb
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikinfo"
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