Archive:The Big Write

The Big Write is our second in an series of important community-wide initiatives to ready ourselves for our upcoming public launch. The Big Speedydelete was the first. In The Big Write, we are aiming to write many original (non-Wikipedia-based) "credible starts" for high priority articles. All Citizendium citizens have very important roles and are strongly encouraged to participate. Please read this brief document in its entirety if you wish to participate.

Overview and goals

Both Citizendium editors and authors have very important roles.

For editors, this is an important opportunity, through only minimal work and commitment, to "jump start" work in your areas. For article writers, this is an excellent opportunity to obtain feedback on your work from subject experts. For both groups, this initiative will help us "get to know" each other and "jump start" many workgroups!

We hope through this initiative to create and review 175 top priority articles as "credible starts". To reach this goal, we will need 35 Citizendium editors, about 20% of them, to make five nominations each. More would of course be very welcomed!

Editors

Editors are encouraged to nominate 3-5 "high priority" topics (below) within their field. Articles should not already exist for nominated topics.

For each topic an editor nominates, they should be committed to reviewing and "authenticating" the new article as a credible start.

To maximize both motivation and the number of high priority articles resulting from this initiative, editors should consult, but not feel bound by, author suggestions when nominating their topics. See "Author suggested topics", below.

Credible starts must be at least 750 words, accurate, unbiased, and well-written. (See "What is "a credible start?" below). Credible starts are not approvals. They are an editor's opinion that the article is on its way to being a good summation of the topic. The editor offers this "authentication" below.

Authors

Authors are encouraged to suggest up to three topics for editors to nominate. Articles should not already exist for suggested topics.

For each topic an author suggests, they should be committed to creating a credible start.

Other writers who are committed to helping create a credible start on an author's suggested topic(s) may add their support.

All contributors (both authors and editors)

All contributors are encouraged to sign up to write one or more "credible starts" on editor nominated topics. As many citizens as wish may sign up to collaborate.

Contributors who sign up to write credible starts should only do so if they are committed to do so within a day or so of signing up.

Period for nominations

We will declare the period of nominations over after they drop off significantly.

Criteria for "authentication"

The criteria for an editor to authenticate an article is whether, in their professional opinion, it comprises "a credible start".

What is a "credible start"?

A credible start 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).

Contains at least a good introductory section to a future (longer) article.

Is accurate, largely unbiased, well-written, and university-level. See our article standards.

Instructions for editors

Step One. Choose three to five topics in your field(s) that are very high priority, and about which you have some specialized knowledge. When doing this, please consult the list of "Author suggested topics", below, to see if any "mesh" with top priority areas in which you have expertise.

Step Two. Alphabetically list each topic under "Editor nominated topics" using the following format (you can simply copy and paste):

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

Notes: 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). The ":" needs to be flush left; it indents a line. Replace "XYZ" with the name of an existing workgroup, or a workgroup you as editor would like to propose. Sign your name after "Reviewed by" with three tildes (~~~), and your name and date after "Authenticated" with four tildes (~~~~).

For example:

epistemology

Workgroup(s) (proposed): Philosophy

Reviewed by: Ed Itor

Article writers: [authors place names here]

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

Please file your topics in alphabetical order. Since this list might get rather long, you might wish for ease sake to place the name(s) of the topic(s) you're managing on your user page.

Step Three. It is not part of your job to assign authors; they assign themselves. Your role is to offer feedback for improvement, if necessary. The place to do this is on the article's "talk page". For example, 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. "Authenticate" the article. Do this by writing ~~~~ after "Authenticated" (see the example above). This indicates that you believe the article is a "credible start" according to the criteria for authentication listed above.

Instructions for article writers

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 no 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"?, above, 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. Please place Category:Big Write on the talk page of the article, so that we can keep track of changes made to these articles from a single place.

Step Four. 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, leave a message on the editor's user talk page. 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 to the editor.

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

Instructions for author suggestions

Step One. Choose up to three topics that you consider high priority, and about which you are committed to writing credible starts.

Step Two. Alphabetically list each topic under "Author suggested topics" using the following format (you can simply copy and paste):

[[Name of topic]]
:Suggested by: [[User:Barnaby Smith|Barnaby Smith]]
:Workgroup(s) (proposed): [[:Category:XYZ Workgroup|XYZ]]
:Writers supporting this suggestion:
:Accepting editor: [[User:Ed Itor|Ed Itor]]

Notes: 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). The ":" needs to be flush left; it indents a line. Sign your name after "Suggested by" with three tildes (~~~). Replace "XYZ" with the name of an existing workgroup or workgroups. To add more than one workgroup, precede it by "::". To add your support to an author's suggestion, add "::~~~" on a new line after "Writers supporting this suggestion". Editors accept the suggestion after "Accepting editor" with three tildes, (~~~).

For example:

government

Suggested by: Barnaby Smith

Workgroup(s) (proposed):

Politics

Philosophy

Antrhopology

Writers supporting this suggestion: [writers place names here]

Accepting editor: Ed Itor

Please file your suggested topics in alphabetical order and keep track of them.

Step Three. If an editor accepts your suggestion(s), or one you have supported, be prepared to begin a credible start on that topic within the next day or so.

Author suggested topics

globalization

Suggested by: Stephen Ewen

Workgroup(s) (proposed)

Writers supporting this suggestion: [writers place names here]

Accepting editor:

Editor nominated topics

aerodynamics

Workgroup(s) (proposed): Engineering

Reviewed by: Hassan Aref

Article writers: [authors place names here]

Authenticated:

anthropology

Workgroup(s) (proposed): Anthropology

Reviewed by: Alexander Hugo Schulenburg

Article writers: [authors place names here]

Authenticated:

applied anthropology

Workgroup(s) (proposed): Anthropology

Reviewed by: Alexander Hugo Schulenburg

Article writers: [authors place names here]

Authenticated:

Arabidopsis thaliana

Workgroup(s) (proposed): Biology

Reviewed by: Chris Day (Talk)

Article writers: [authors place names here]

Authenticated:

Bioengineering

Workgroup(s) (proposed): Biology Engineering

Reviewed by: Supten

Article writers: [authors place names here]

Authenticated:

blog

Workgroup(s) (proposed): Computers

Reviewed by: Jerome Delacroix

Article writers: [authors place names here]

Authenticated:

circadian rhythm

Workgroup(s) (proposed): Biology

Reviewed by: David Tribe

Article writers: [authors place names here]

Authenticated:

Citizendium

Workgroup(s) (proposed): Citizendium

Reviewed by: Supten

Article writers: [authors place names here]

Authenticated:

chloroplast

Workgroup(s) (proposed): Biology

Reviewed by: Chris Day (Talk)

Article writers: [authors place names here]

Authenticated:

Colligative properties

Workgroup(s) Chemistry

Reviewed by: Robert Tito | Talk

Article writers: [authors place names here]

Authenticated:

computational fluid dynamics (CFD)

Workgroup(s) (proposed): Engineering

Reviewed by: Hassan Aref

Article writers: [authors place names here]

Authenticated:

content management system

Workgroup(s) (proposed): Computers

Reviewed by: Jerome Delacroix

Article writers: Charlie Levenson

Authenticated:

cultural anthropology

Workgroup(s) (proposed): Anthropology

Reviewed by: Alexander Hugo Schulenburg

Article writers: [authors place names here]

Authenticated:

Distributed computation as alternative to Highperformance Computing

Workgroup(s) (proposed): Computers

Reviewed by: Robert Tito | Talk

Article writers: Nick Johnson

Authenticated:

Error analysis in physical sciences

Workgroup(s) (proposed): Physics|Chemistry

Reviewed by: Robert Tito | Talk

Article writers: [authors place names here]

Authenticated:

geologic time scale

Workgroup(s) (proposed): Earth Sciences

Reviewed by: Nereo Preto

Article writers: [authors place names here]

Authenticated:

global warming

Workgroup(s) (proposed): Earth Sciences

Reviewed by: Nereo Preto

Article writers: [authors place names here]

Authenticated:

N.B. The article is top priority overall and I can handle it, but I'm not a researcher in this topic! Perhaps an even more qualified editor exists: go ahead and take it!!! --Nereo Preto 10:44, 22 February 2007 (CST)

hydraulics

Workgroup(s) (proposed): Engineering

Reviewed by: Hassan Aref

Article writers: [authors place names here]

Authenticated:

hemispheric lateralization

Workgroup(s) (proposed): Biology

Reviewed by: Supten

Article writers: [authors place names here]

Authenticated:

hypertension

Workgroup(s) (proposed): Health Sciences