Wikipaediae

Wikipaediae is a pluralization of and refers to the various projects of Wikimedia Foundation and separate groups which utilize similar software. It includes an ever-expanding array of projects, which in turn has fostered a subset of projects to provide intellectual and technological infrastructure and support. Sometimes these are referred to as backstage projects. Included are variants of in multiple languages, but also collaborative media which utilize similar or derivative software and interactional models. These include wiktionary,
wikibooks,wikiversity, which are respectively online dictionary, publishing consortium and (as yet unaccredited) university in cyberspace. Some accredited institutes of higher education utilize one or more resources in the world of wikipaediae, including wikiversity courses.
Other species of wikipaediae provide support to and its offshoots. These include wikicommons, which provides content, and mediawiki,which provides developer support in utilizing the software. The latter is not to be confused with wikimedia, which hosts strategic planning papers and discussion.
Shared policies and philosophies
An underlying ethic across wiki projects is well expressed by the strategic planning motto:
"Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge."
Consistent with this motto, many wikipaediae are interested in proliferating the benefits of their project. This reaches across linguistic barriers, a difficulty facilitated by translation software. Wikiversity Beta is a multilingual hub for the coordination of Wikiversity projects in different languages.
Divergent policies and philosophies
Wikimedia projects have divergent policies with regard to content and administration. For instance, the rule of thumb on is to encourage contributions based upon primary sources. Commensurately, discourages original research. However, throughout the world of wikipaedie, there are different views in this matter. For instance wikinews, which aspires to a specific vision of journalism, has a policy page titled "Original reporting" which establishes guidelines for preparing material which is novel in the world of publishing.
Wikiversity specifically encourages original research as long as it is consistent with its guidelines.
Structure
Portals
Portals are designed as an easy user interface to facilitate reading. They originated in the Polish and German s. In early 2005, the concept was imported to the English .
Projects
Projects are similar to portals in that they aggregate content but they are not as user friendly and are more apt to be used by editors.
Shared problems
Wikipaediae, not unlike frontiers in the gold rush days, are disproportionately operated by men. Many wikimedia projects report under-representation of women in their editorial and administrative teams.
Editor retention is also a frequently discussed problem area.
Advocacy agendas
Wikimedia projects tend to emphasize non-ideological, policy-neutral approaches to content, but with regard to the fundamental social contract which is the matrix of its operations, ns of all type can be fiercely protective. Free speech, censorship and public policy which impacts internet infrastructure are issues of concern across all WMF projects and other internet enterprises.
 
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