Archive:The Big Write

What is the Big Write?

If you want to participate in the Big Write, please read this entire document, which is not long!

This is another mass initiative, modeled loosely on The Big Speedydelete. Basically, we are going to sit down and write a lot of basic articles--but how we're going to do it is, perhaps, interesting.

Each Citizendium editor may and is encouraged to nominate 3-5 "high priority" topics (below) in his or her field. Articles on these topics shouldn't already exist. Other contributors then sign up to write a "credible start" on the topic. To be a "credible start," an article must be at least 750 words, accurate, unbiased, and well-written (see below). As many people as want to sign up to write on any topic may do so, but everyone who does sign up to write is then obligated to do so (and to begin soon, i.e., within a day or two of signing up). For each nominated topic, the editor is committed to reviewing and (if all goes well) blessing the new article as "a credible start." This is not an approval, but merely the editor's opinion that the article in its present form is on its way to being a good summation of the topic. The editor offers this blessing below.

This should not be much work for editors, but by making this small commitment, they can help "jump start" work in their areas. We would like to have nominations, if possible, from at least 20% of Citizendium editors, i.e., about 35 editors. More, of course, would be very welcome. That would entail the creation (or review) of 105 to 175 top priority articles. More importantly, it will help us get to know each other and to "jump start" many workgroups.

For article writers, this is an excellent and interesting opportunity to get feedback on your work from professionals.

At some point--after article nominations drop off significantly--we will declare a close to nominations, so that we can declare a definite "end point" to the Big Write.

Editor instructions

There are four steps.

Step One. Choose three to five topics in your field(s) that are very high priority, and about which you have some specialized knowledge.

Step Two. List each topic below (under "The Topics") following this format:

Format:

Name of topic
:Workgroup(s) (proposed): [[:Category:XYZ Workgroup|XYZ]]
:Reviewed by: ~~~
:Article writers:
:Blessed:

Note: place [[ and ]] on either side of the article name. Make your article title singular (so, prefer whale to whales) and lowercase titles when typically written lowercase (so, prefer global warming to Global Warming; but The Great Gatsby).

Also note: the ":" needs to be flush left; it indents a line. You can sign your name easily with three tildes (~~~), and your name and date by four tildes (~~~~).

For example:

epistemology

Workgroup(s) (proposed): Philosophy

Reviewed by: Ed Itor

Article writers: [authors place names here]

Blessed: Ed Itor 19:00, 21 February 2007 (CST)

Please file your topics in alphabetical order, and for your own benefit, you might want to write down elsewhere the names of the topic you're managing.

Step Three. Offer feedback as necessary. It isn't part of your job to assign authors; they assign themselves. But it is your job to offer comments and suggestions for improvement, if necessary. The place to do this is on the so-called "talk" page. Therefore, if you have nominated an article titled whale, then you should go to Talk:whale. This can be found by navigating to the article and, from there, clicking on the "discussion" tab.

Step Four. "Bless" the article. Do this by writing ~~~~ after "Blessed" (see the example above). This indicates that you believe the article is a "credible start" according to the criteria listed below.

If you have any questions, please write Larry at sanger@citizendium.org.

Instructions for article writers

There are three steps.

Step One. Sign up. If you're a Citizendium contributor--author or editor--you can sign up to write an article. Do so simply by typing three tildes (~~~) after "Article writers". More than one person can sign up to write a given article. Indeed, the fact that you have signed up to work on an article gives you special authorship privileges over that article, but it does represent your commitment to the community that you'll do your best to write 750+ words that are "a credible start" on the topic.

Step Two. Get to work! See What is "a credible start"?, below, to learn what we're aiming at. For purposes of this project, please do not submit articles taken from Wikipedia or elsewhere. This should be your original work.

Step Three. Submit your work to the editor when you're done with your "credible start." No doubt some editors will be on hand on the "Talk" page of the article. If not, go to the editor's user page and use the talk page of the editor. If you still get no reply, again go to the editor's user page, look to the left under "toolbox" and try the "E-mail this user" link. If you have any trouble contacting an editor (e.g., if the editor has turned off "E-mail this user"), then send your message to constables@citizendium.org, and the constables will forward your message on to the editor.

Then await blessing, or revise the article in accordance with the feedback you receive.

What is "a credible start"?

A credible start on an article, for our purposes, is an article that:

is 750 or more words long. A handy way to calculate number of words is to paste the article text into the form on this page and press the "Calculate Words" button.