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| | {{Image|Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium front page 2016-07-01 17-41-54.png|right|400px|Citizendium home page in July 2016.}} |
| | [https://en.citizendium.org/ The '''Citizendium'''] (''si-tih-ZEN-dee-um'', "a citizens' compendium") is a [[wiki]]-based free [[encyclopedia]] project founded in 2007 by [[Larry Sanger]], who also co-founded [[Wikipedia]]. It allows users to write and edit articles on many subjects, as long as they register and edit under their real, verified name. Citizendium articles are released under a [[Creative Commons]] license that allows acknowledged duplication. We allow material from other wikis to be used with attribution. The project currently has {{PAGESINCAT:CZ Live}} articles in varying stages of development. |
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| {{Image|Citizendium-homepage-2012-cut.png|right|400px|Citizendium home page in April 2012.}}
| | <big>A better summary is probably to be had '''[[CZ:Introduction_to_CZ_for_Wikipedians#Why Citizendium?|here]]'''. We no longer are following the "expert guidance" model used in prior years.</big> |
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| The '''Citizendium''' ([http://www.citizendium.org/cit.mp3 sit-ih-ZEN-dee-um], "a [[citizen]]s' [[compendium]] of everything") is a [[wiki]]-based [[encyclopedia]] project founded by [[Larry Sanger]], who also co-founded [[Wikipedia]]. The project aims to improve on the [[Wikipedia]] model by providing "reliable" and high-quality content,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Fundamentals|date=September 6, 2007|title=The Citizendium's Statement of Fundamental Policies|accessdate=27-Feb-2008}}</ref> and differs from Wikipedia in its [[real names policy]] (requiring all contributors to use their verified real names) and by providing what it calls "gentle expert oversight" of contributors ("Authors") by approved subject specialists or "Editors".
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| It was first envisioned as a complete "[[Fork (software development)|fork]]" of the English Wikipedia, but the project abandoned that idea prior its public launch to emphasize its own original articles. A main feature of the project is its "approved articles", which have each undergone a form of [[peer review]] by qualified topic-experts and are then closed to further editing. Citizendium was introduced as a "beta" (in development) project on March 25, 2007. After project members voted for a new [[CZ:Charter|charter]] in September 2010, the "beta" tag was dropped in 2011. The project currently has {{PAGESINCAT:CZ Live}} articles in varying stages of development, of which {{PAGESINCAT:Approved Articles}} are approved.<ref>[http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Category:Approved_Articles List of and links to Approved Articles.]</ref>
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| ==Structure== | | ==Structure== |
| The Citizendium is run according to the articles of its [[CZ:Charter|Charter]], which establishes various executive, managerial, disciplinary and technical roles. The [[CZ:Editorial Council|Editorial Council]] (seven members, including four specialist [[CZ:The Editor Role|Editors]]) is responsible for shaping the content of articles, while the [[CZ:Management Council|Management Council]] (five members) deals with funding, appointments, and other administrative matters. The "[[CZ:Constabulary|Constabulary]]" of site moderators monitors behavior and maintains order in discussions, as well as approving new user accounts. In addition, there is a [[:Category:CZ Managing Editors|Managing Editor]] - to represent the project and make interim decisions - and an [[CZ:Ombudsman|Ombudsman]] to mediate disputes (respectively [[User:Anthony.Sebastian|Anthony Sebastian]] since July 2012 and [[User:Gareth Leng|Gareth Leng]] since October 2010). All these positions except those in the Constabulary are directly elected by project members in good standing (i.e. not blocked). 'Constables' are appointed by the Chief Constable ([[User:D. Matt Innis|D. Matt Innis]] since October 2010), who is in turn appointed by the Management Council. There is a separation of powers in effect, under which one person may not serve in more than one of these offices at the same time. This does not apply to the Citizendium's [[CZ:Technical Team|technical staff]], who are appointed to maintain the [[software]] and [[server]]s of the wiki, its [http://forum.citizendium.org forums] and [[CZ:Mailing lists|mailing lists]]. | | The Citizendium is run according to a set of [[CZ:Policies|policies]]. The community itself, through consensus and discussion, is responsible for shaping the content of articles, as well as funding, appointments, and other administrative matters. In the past, members were elected or appointed to represent the project, make interim decisions and mediate disputes. At present, the wiki is operated by a small, dedicated group of volunteers. |
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| ==Origin of Citizendium==
| | Members of the project used to be called "Citizens" and were, at one time, divided into "Authors", who were regular project members, and "Editors", who were recognized experts. This model of operation was not successful, and now, all contributors are equal. Other roles include: the [[CZ:Technical Team|technical staff]], who maintain the [[software]] and [[server]]s of the wiki; the Treasurer, who administers the project's finances; and the Editor in Chief and Assistant Editor, who may arbitrate controversies if it becomes necessary. |
| {{Image|Larry-Sanger at WOS4.jpg|right|222px|[[Larry Sanger]] announcing the ''Citizendium'' on September 15, 2006, at the Wizards of OS 4 conference, Berlin.}}
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| [[Larry Sanger]], co-founder of Wikipedia, former editor-in-chief of [[Nupedia]], and consultant to other web-encyclopedia projects such as the [[Encyclopedia of Earth]], announced the concept for Citizendium on September 15, 2006 at Berlin's [[Wizards of OS]] 4 conference. The project moved on to a pilot phase in October, and formally launched on March 25, 2007.
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| Like Wikipedia, Citizendium is a project to prepare an encyclopedia through the collaborative writing approach known as wiki. The first recognized wiki was created by Ward Cunningham, who began development of WikiWikiWeb in 1994.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://c2.com/doc/etymology.html|date=November 2003|title=Correspondence on the Etymology of Wiki|accessdate=09-05-2007}}</ref>
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| ==Fundamental principles==
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| Citizendium was founded on the following organizational principles that, for the most part, distinguish it from Wikipedia. These principles are maintained by the [[CZ:Charter|Charter]], which superseded the original '[[CZ:Fundamentals|Statement of Fundamental Policies]]' in September 2010.
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| ===Open collaboration=== | | ===Open collaboration=== |
| Citizendium is similar to [[Wikipedia]] in that it is an open wiki: the public is invited to participate and edit most pages. | | Citizendium is similar to Wikipedia in that it is an open wiki: the public is invited to participate and edit most pages. Anonymous edits are not allowed, but in principle members can edit most pages. |
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| ===Expert contribution===
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| Unlike Wikipedia, Citizendium emphasizes the involvement of experts. While articles may be developed and revised by all Citizendium participants, the project places certain decisions in the hands of subject experts. (See ''[[Citizendium#Article approval|article approval]]'', below.)
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| Founding Editor-in-Chief Larry Sanger promoted the shift to expertise, saying: "people who know a great deal about a subject, who are recognized by various societal mechanisms for that knowledge, can add a great of value to Web 2.0 projects, if they are given special roles that recognize their expertise."<ref>Sanger (2006) ''Why Make Room for Experts in Web 2.0'' Keynote delivered at SDForum, San Jose, California, Oct. 24, 2006, retrieved from [http://www.citizendium.org/roomforexperts.html http://www.citizendium.org/roomforexperts.html] on May 7, 2007.</ref> Using a metaphor from [[Eric S. Raymond|Eric S. Raymond's]] story about ''[[The Cathedral and the Bazaar]]'', Sanger suggested that we "Think of editors as the village elders wandering the bazaar and occasionally dispensing advice and reining in the wayward. Their presence is merely a moderating, civilizing influence. They don't stop the bazaar from being a bazaar."<ref>Sanger (2006) ''The Citizendium FAQ'', retrieved from [http://www.citizendium.org/faq.html#editors http://www.citizendium.org/faq.html#editors] on May 7, 2007.</ref>
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| ===Article approval===
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| Citizendium requires that its finished articles be approved by experts familiar with the subject matter. Prior to approval, articles may be readily developed by any Citizendium participant. Upon approval, articles become the default article served to readers. Approved articles are not directly edited; instead, contributors are able to improve a draft version of the article, which may ultimately replace the Approved version.
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| ===Real names=== | | ===Real names=== |
| Citizendium requires that participants use their [[real names policy|real names]], which project staff seek to verify before an applicant's account can be created. Applicants have to provide some evidence that they are who they say they are by submitting a biography of their background and interests along with something that confirms their identity, such as a non-free email address, ID scan, or testimonies from existing members. Minors are asked to provide less personal information, while applicants seeking to become Editors are required to provide more extensive evidence of their qualifications or experience. Sanger has stated that real names, in contrast to the [[pseudonym]]s common on Wikipedia, add to the credibility and accuracy of Citizendium articles. | | Citizendium requires that all contributors be logged in and edit under their real name, as this is thought to reduced vandalism, encourage a civil atmosphere, and help readers to judge how accurate an article may be. Any applicant must not only declare that the name they have submitted is their own, but must submit evidence that verifies this. Common verification methods include use of a non-free e-mail address, such as one used at an educational institution or company, or the submission of scanned identity documents such as a driver's license (information other than the applicant's name may be blacked out). Minors are asked to provide less personal information. All contributors must also maintain at least a short public biography about themselves, to give readers some idea of the knowledge or abilities the Citizen has brought to their edits. |
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| ==Project goals==
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| {{Image|CZ Image.jpg|right|250px|Citizendium home page in May 2009.}}
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| ===Neutrality===
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| Citizendium adopted a Neutrality Policy<ref>{{cite web|url=http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/CZ:Neutrality_Policy|title=Neutrality Policy|date=09-05-2007|accessdate=09-05-2007}}</ref> that was based on an early version of Wikipedia's neutrality policy (circa December 2001), which had been drafted by Sanger. The Citizendium policy was subsequently subjected to the [[CZ:Charter|Charter]] (as of April 2012):
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| *[[CZ:Charter#Article 4|Article 4]]: ''The Citizendium community shall recognize the special role that experts play in defining content standards in their relevant fields and in guiding content development towards reliability and quality.''
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| *[[CZ:Charter#Article 18|Article 18]]: ''The Citizendium shall welcome contributions in all fields of knowledge.''
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| *[[CZ:Charter#Article 2|Article 19]]: ''All articles shall treat their subjects comprehensively, neutrally, and objectively to the greatest degree possible in a well-written narrative, complementing text with other suitable material and media.''
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| *[[CZ:Charter#Article 23|Article 23]]: ''The Citizendium shall remain free of advocacy, advertisement and sensationalism.''
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| *[[CZ:Charter#Article 39|Article 39]]: ''An Ombudsman is available to mediate any dispute. Agreements worked out through mediation shall be binding but may be appealed.''
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| ===Responsibility===
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| Responsibility covers a broad scope within this project. Not only do members have responsibilities to the project and its contributors, but they also are responsible for the content they produce. The project has created policy that determines it will maximize attribution, either to an author or a source.
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| Additionally, the Citizendium guidelines propose that editors and authors alike have a responsibility to the public at large. It is the duty of all contributors at CZ to ensure that information on an article can be attributed to fact, and does not contain any questionable or unauthorized/copyrighted material, unless that required permission has been specifically granted for our use.
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| There is also a great importance of projecting reliable information; if Citizendium articles are not accurate then how can the project be credible? The goal is to create a "better free encyclopedia", and its users and content should aim to fulfill that.
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| Should there be any incident of irresponsibility or abject behavior or content, CZ has processes and policies in place that are able to deal with these in the most professional manner available, and those should be exercised first to prevent user conflict and infighting.
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| ==Governance==
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| The Citizendium [[CZ:Charter|Charter]] provides rules for the governance of the project within its community. Examples (as of April 2012) include:
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| *[[CZ:Charter#Article 2|Article 2]]: ''Citizenship shall be open to anyone who fulfills the basic conditions for participation as defined by the Management Council—including registering according to the real names policy—and agrees to abide by this Charter.''
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| *[[CZ:Charter#Article 4|Article 4]]: ''The Citizendium community shall recognize the special role that experts play in defining content standards in their relevant fields and in guiding content development towards reliability and quality.''
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| *[[CZ:Charter#Article 5|Article 5]]: ''Citizens shall act responsibly and in a civil manner: derogatory or offensive language or behavior will not be tolerated...''
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| *[[CZ:Charter#Article 11|Article 11]]: ''Citizens should expect Officers and Editors to be fair and impartial. Biased Officers and Editors shall recuse themselves from their official positions in any dispute resolution process.''
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| *[[CZ:Charter#Article 14|Article 14]]: ''Editors are Citizens whose expertise in some field of knowledge is recognized and formally acknowledged by the community. Official recognition of expertise — obtained through education or experience — and its scope shall be based on guidelines established by the Editorial Council.''
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| The combination of these guidelines result in a project that while still existing as an "open system", must have attribution, accuracy, and the unbridled freedom for subject matter experts to be a part of the project.
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| ==Reception==
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| On November 1st, 2007, Citizendium officially turned one-year old. To celebrate its birthday, Sanger produced a press release that presented a narrative snapshot of the current state of the project, in terms of its progress and to debunk some myths about its status. Also, a [[Slashdot]] post was made to mark the occasion.
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| Among web sites with the highest traffic, as of April 2012 Citizendium was [http://scripts.ranking.com/data/details.aspx?theurl=citizendium.org ranked around 58,000] by [http://www.ranking.com/ Ranking.com], a drop since mid-May 2011 from an earlier level of about 10,000-12,000. According to Alexa, [http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/citizendium.org# Citizendium's main audience demographic] is split between 18-24 year-old and 55+ year-old males with graduate school educations.
| | In contrast to the [[pseudonym]]s common on Wikipedia, Citizendium contributors believe the use of real names adds to the credibility and accuracy of Citizendium articles and that real names lead to the likelihood of more courteous interactions among contributors. |
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| ==Criticism== | | ===Citable articles=== |
| Objections to the Citizendium have been raised by journalists, bloggers and members of other wikis, particularly some Wikipedians. One early criticism focused on the wiki's guidance role for experts: the Citizendium cannot succeed because there is no such thing as an expert outside those institutions that specifically certify an individual as an expert; who is an "expert" depends on context.<ref>''Many2Many'': '[http://many.corante.com/archives/2006/09/18/larry_sanger_citizendium_and_the_problem_of_expertise.php Larry Sanger, Citizendium and the Problem of Expertise]'. Blog post by Clay Shirky, September 18 2006.</ref>
| | Some years ago, a (then) Editor could declare a version of an article essentially complete and of reasonably good quality. A copy of this approved version was made available, locked to further editing, on a subpage of the main article. The article itself remains freely editable and can later be re-approved and replace the citable version. |
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| A common complaint is that the fledgeling Citizendium is too small to compete with bigger websites;<ref>For example, see ''dot.life'': '[http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2008/03/will_wikipedia_always_win.html Will Wikipedia always win?]'. BBC blog post by Rory Cellan-Jones, March 31 2008.</ref> The strength of this argument would be diluted as the Citizendium gathered a larger contributor base over time and produced more articles.
| | ===Article inclusion policy=== |
| | Citizendium has the following [[CZ:Content_Policy|content policy]]. There is no requirement that article topics be "notable", which means Citizendium does not exclude topics solely on the ground that their topics have not been covered extensively in the media or reliable online websites. Citizendium asserts that what may be completely trivial to one person might in fact be quite important to another, and our content policy allows you, for example, to write an article about a small, obscure local park. |
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| More recently, criticisms of the Citizendium have often consisted of claims about poor decisions by the management of the site. The [[RationalWiki]] website provides an unmoderated, anonymous forum for such criticisms to be aired.<ref>''RationalWiki'': '[http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/RationalWiki:What_is_going_on_at_Citizendium%3F What is going on at Citizendium?]' RationalWiki also maintains a list of [http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Active_users_at_Citizendium active contributors to the Citizendium project] which can be compared to the wiki's own "[[:Special:ActiveUsers|Active Users]]" list.</ref>
| | However, the wiki does not allow articles that involve [[CZ:Policy_on_Self-Promotion|self-promotion]] or advocacy of causes. Debates about inclusion generally belong in [[Forum_Talk:Content]] but may also occur on the Discussion page of specific articles. |
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| ==Footnotes== | | ==Footnotes== |
| {{reflist|2}} | | {{reflist|2}}[[Category:Suggestion Bot Tag]] |
(CC) Screenshot: Citizendium Citizendium home page in July 2016.
The Citizendium (si-tih-ZEN-dee-um, "a citizens' compendium") is a wiki-based free encyclopedia project founded in 2007 by Larry Sanger, who also co-founded Wikipedia. It allows users to write and edit articles on many subjects, as long as they register and edit under their real, verified name. Citizendium articles are released under a Creative Commons license that allows acknowledged duplication. We allow material from other wikis to be used with attribution. The project currently has 16,414 articles in varying stages of development.
A better summary is probably to be had here. We no longer are following the "expert guidance" model used in prior years.
Structure
The Citizendium is run according to a set of policies. The community itself, through consensus and discussion, is responsible for shaping the content of articles, as well as funding, appointments, and other administrative matters. In the past, members were elected or appointed to represent the project, make interim decisions and mediate disputes. At present, the wiki is operated by a small, dedicated group of volunteers.
Members of the project used to be called "Citizens" and were, at one time, divided into "Authors", who were regular project members, and "Editors", who were recognized experts. This model of operation was not successful, and now, all contributors are equal. Other roles include: the technical staff, who maintain the software and servers of the wiki; the Treasurer, who administers the project's finances; and the Editor in Chief and Assistant Editor, who may arbitrate controversies if it becomes necessary.
Open collaboration
Citizendium is similar to Wikipedia in that it is an open wiki: the public is invited to participate and edit most pages. Anonymous edits are not allowed, but in principle members can edit most pages.
Real names
Citizendium requires that all contributors be logged in and edit under their real name, as this is thought to reduced vandalism, encourage a civil atmosphere, and help readers to judge how accurate an article may be. Any applicant must not only declare that the name they have submitted is their own, but must submit evidence that verifies this. Common verification methods include use of a non-free e-mail address, such as one used at an educational institution or company, or the submission of scanned identity documents such as a driver's license (information other than the applicant's name may be blacked out). Minors are asked to provide less personal information. All contributors must also maintain at least a short public biography about themselves, to give readers some idea of the knowledge or abilities the Citizen has brought to their edits.
In contrast to the pseudonyms common on Wikipedia, Citizendium contributors believe the use of real names adds to the credibility and accuracy of Citizendium articles and that real names lead to the likelihood of more courteous interactions among contributors.
Citable articles
Some years ago, a (then) Editor could declare a version of an article essentially complete and of reasonably good quality. A copy of this approved version was made available, locked to further editing, on a subpage of the main article. The article itself remains freely editable and can later be re-approved and replace the citable version.
Article inclusion policy
Citizendium has the following content policy. There is no requirement that article topics be "notable", which means Citizendium does not exclude topics solely on the ground that their topics have not been covered extensively in the media or reliable online websites. Citizendium asserts that what may be completely trivial to one person might in fact be quite important to another, and our content policy allows you, for example, to write an article about a small, obscure local park.
However, the wiki does not allow articles that involve self-promotion or advocacy of causes. Debates about inclusion generally belong in Forum_Talk:Content but may also occur on the Discussion page of specific articles.
