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FamilySearch Wiki:Accuracy and Collaboration: Difference between revisions
FamilySearch Wiki:Accuracy and Collaboration (view source)
Revision as of 17:12, 15 December 2009
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== Accuracy == | == Accuracy == | ||
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Wiki content authoring isn’t about command and control; it’s about the merit of ideas. When multiple authors collaborate on content, they sometimes disagree. This is true whether an authoring team is a group of credentialed professionals or a variegated community of professionals and volunteers. Each page on the wiki has a place where users can discuss conflicts regarding the page's content. When authors are unable to solve conflicts, they will be able to submit their disagreements for mediation. A full history of changes is kept for every page so users can revert a page to an earlier version. When vandals surface, sysadmins can revoke their authoring and editing rights and block their IP addresses if necessary. Content accuracy, then, is moderated by the community. Wiki authoring isn't about who you are, but what you know. | Wiki content authoring isn’t about command and control; it’s about the merit of ideas. When multiple authors collaborate on content, they sometimes disagree. This is true whether an authoring team is a group of credentialed professionals or a variegated community of professionals and volunteers. Each page on the wiki has a place where users can discuss conflicts regarding the page's content. When authors are unable to solve conflicts, they will be able to submit their disagreements for mediation. A full history of changes is kept for every page so users can revert a page to an earlier version. When vandals surface, sysadmins can revoke their authoring and editing rights and block their IP addresses if necessary. Content accuracy, then, is moderated by the community. Wiki authoring isn't about who you are, but what you know. | ||
== Collaboration and speed == | |||
Wiki articles iterate rapidly. When an author wants to see whether a wiki article needs editing, he should check it. In a wiki there's no concept of an author "checking out" a document and preventing anyone else from writing on it for a week while he edits it. In a wiki, rather than overhauling a document from stem to stern, an author makes a small change to a section, then saves, then makes another small change, then saves again. | |||
Wikipedia was developed in this way, and it works. You'd think a bunch of volunteers couldn't build a site which rivals the accuracy of Encyclopedia Britannica, but they've done it. Many eyeballs make any bug shallow. We are smarter than me. | |||
== The Writing Process and Single Sourcing == | == The Writing Process and Single Sourcing == | ||