User:DGG/talks/NYPL
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Introduction to Wikipedia , This page will be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=User:DGG/NYPL this version, July 7, 2009
- Wikipedia and other sources
- What is distinctive about Wikipedia (Wikipedia:Five pillars, Wikipedia:Simplified ruleset)
- A free encyclopedia, free to read and to use, free of copyright (except for some Fair Use material)
- A comprehensive modern encyclopedia, with world-wide coverage, and at least some information about almost anything a person might look for in an encyclopedia; larger than print encyclopedias; extensively hyperlinked and categorized; lists; images & other media; watchlists and other software tools
- Verifiable, with references for the information, to check for accuracy and to find more material
- Open content: anyone can contribute – widest range of interests and knowledge; numerous contributors; Wikiprojects encourage collaboration
- Neutral and factual: all major points of view are covered in proportion, with sources for them (Wikipedia:Neutral point of view)
- Uncensored: with respect to sex, politics, and other difficult topics
- Open community: self-governing, with minimal structure; everyone is a volunteer
- Comparison with Other free web sources
- ask.com for quick basic information
- IMDb.com for detailed information on movies
- WorldCat for comprehensive information about books
- Google News Search: for current events and Google News Archive for earlier ones.
- Wikia for details on games and hobbies
- PubMed+ for medical information from the National Library of Medicine
- Comparison with Library web sources (NYPL, available remotely with a Library card
- Biography Reference Center, Literature Reference Center
- Newspapers: National Newspaper Index, New York State Newspapers, Newspaper Source, Custom Newspapers (Gale)
- Wikipedia's coverage
- What are the problems?:
- Accuracy; updating; stability; edit wars/WP:OWNership
- Fairness; WP:COI
- Poorly covered areas
- Uneven depth in even fairly well covered areas
- Spam
- Where is it strong:
- Popular culture: TV, movies, games
- Computers; Medicine; Sports; Politics
- United States, Great Britain
- WP:Featured Topics, WP:Featured Articles, WP:Good Articles
- Where it is weak or erratic (Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias)
- Classic literature and drama
- History and Religion
- Africa, most of Asia, Latin America
- Where it is too difficult for most people?:
- Mathematics, Linguistics, ...
- How to use Wikipedia (Wikipedia:Researching with Wikipedia)
- Searching
- Wikipedia Search box
- Google and other search engines
- Browsing Portal:Contents
- Wikipedia Portals of broad subjects Portal:Contents/Portals
- Wikipedia Categories & [[Categories|Complete A-Z list of categories], Outlines, and [[Portal:Contents/Lists of topics|Lists]; Timelines,[[Portal:Contents/Quick index|Complete A-Z Index]
- Links in articles
- Evaluating an article
- Sourcing (Wikipedia:Verifiability; WP:RS); External links ([WP:EL]])
- Article history (sometimes an old version might be better)
- Talk page - Wikiprojects rate their own articles; discussion of article improvement
- Quality and priority designations (Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Assessment)
- Problem designations: Cleanup, PovCheck, Unreferenced, Tone, Advert, Disputed, Update
- Examples:
- The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009 film) (and at IMDB). Compare H.M.S. Pinafore (19th century topic easier to illustrate) and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
- [Malcolm X]] compared with Bill Clinton
- Fairy tale
- Macintosh
- Metal umlaut (video on article evolution)
- Other parts of the system than articles
- Commons: Pictures and media Files
- Wikitionary
- WikiSource (& related projects elsewhere, such as Project Gutenberg and Internet Archive)
- other language Wikipedias
- Getting started (Wikipedia:Contributing to Wikipedia)
- Discussing an article; Wikiquette; Consensus
- Correcting/expanding an article; WP:CITE; WP:MOS
- Writing a new article WP:FIRST
- Researching an article with library and other resources
- Edit an article in Category:New York City stubs!
- Getting Help
- Help:Wikipedia: The Missing Manual/Appendixes/Reader’s Guide to Wikipedia by John Broughton.
- Help:Wikipedia: The Missing Manual by John Broughton.
- How Wikipedia Works by Phoebe Ayers, Charles Matthews, and Ben Yates
- Help:Wikipedia: The Missing Manual by John Broughton.
- Wikipedia:Glossary -- our own jargon
- Wikipedia:Cheatsheet