Submissions/Playground, school or library? A wiki for children

This is an accepted submission for Wikimania 2015.

Submission no.: 6030

Title of the submission

Playground, school or library? A wiki for children

Type of submission (discussion, hot seat, panel, presentation, tutorial, workshop)

presentation

Author of the submission

Ziko, Ziko van Dijk

E-mail address

zikovandijkwikipedia.de

Username

Ziko

Country of origin

Germany, living in the Netherlands

Affiliation, if any (organisation, company etc.)

Wikimedia Nederland, Klexikon, Wikiteam.de

Personal homepage or blog

https://zikoblog.wordpress.com/

Abstract (at least 300 words to describe your proposal)

Imagine a wiki encyclopedia for children. A Wikipedia for children, with suitable content for this target group. Isn't it rather obvious that such a website would be a great idea? How comes, after so many years, that we have no such Wikipedia for children?

The board of the Wikimedia Foundation already in 2010 called for a wiki encyclopedia with children suited content, in the wake of the image filter discussion. In 2013, there was a serious attempt to ask the Wikimedia Foundation for a new sister project. Suddenly it was withdrawn.

At the moment, there are several wiki websites with a specific regard to children. It seems that all of them have their base in Europe: Vikidia in France, Wikikids in the Netherlands, Wikimini in Switzerland and Sweden, Grundschulwiki and Klexikon in Germany. Some see themselves as platforms to create content, others as educational platforms. Two of them where created as early as in 2006. The last one was established only in 2014.

This presentation gives a short historical overview and concentrates on the different models for a 'wiki for children'. Those differences made it difficult for the existing wikis to cooperate. Besides, cooperation is something most volunteers cannot afford simply because of the time and energy it costs. Even Vikidia that created several language versions, remains essentially a French endavour, as it is hard to find partners in other countries.

A wiki for children or by children? was the question Mathias Damour and others discussed on Meta Wiki. Many people are eager to answer: both. Wikipedians want a wiki to be edited by its readers, and teachers are fond of children who teach other children. Possibly you cannot have both – it is as if people wish for an institution that is a playground, a school and a library at the same time.

Track

Education Outreach

Length of session (if other than 30 minutes, specify how long): 30 minutes

Will you attend Wikimania if your submission is not accepted?

yes

Slides or further information (optional)

Presentation slides
Klexikon report in English

Special requests

Interested attendees

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--Karen vera03 (talk) 18:06, 7 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
--Pamela Urquiza (talk) 18:09, 7 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
AKoval (WMF) (talk) 18:37, 28 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Adamw (talk) 18:38, 2 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
CT Cooper · talk 22:05, 2 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Orderinchaos (talk) 22:23, 2 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
MarkAHershberger (talk) 10:26, 8 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
--Selsharbaty (WMF) (talk) 16:37, 8 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Mrjohncummings (talk) 19:40, 9 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
--アンタナナ 23:15, 22 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Denis Barthel (talk) 21:30, 2 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]
--Taweetham (talk) 21:36, 17 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]