Wikispooks:Wikipedia+
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This page - and the Wikipedia+ initiative itself - is a work-in-progress and testing is invited. The latest alpha version of the extension can be downloaded here (Firefox only for now). To discuss/provide feedback, use this Email form or the above discussion tab. |
Wikipedia+ is an initiative based on a browser extension which augments Wikipedia pages with links to additional relevant information unlikely to be covered adequately, if at all, on Wikipedia itself. Wikispooks is a Wikipedia+ - enabled site.
Note: The Wikipedia+ initiative has affiliation whatever with the Wikipedia Foundation.
Contents
Rationale
Wikipedia is a vastly popular on-line encyclopedia. Anyone seeking information on any subject will find that links to a relevant and useful Wikipedia page will almost invariably appear in the first few results of any Google search. However, in common with all mainstream media sources, there is a well-established problem with Wikipedia:
To the extent that a subject is judged threatening to established power and the widespread acceptance of 'official narratives' of events, the reliability and ultimate accuracy of Wikipedia articles touching on it is likely to be compromised. At the extremes of power and perceived threat, Wikipedia's 'Neutral-Point-of-View' [1] principle pretty much guarantees that the compromise will be fundamental. (See The Problem with Wikipedia for a fuller discussion)
This is the problem that Wikipedia+ addresses.
How Wikipedia+ works
WikipediaPlus suggests alternative pages of interest to Wikipedia browsers Wikispooks and a number of other sites maintain indexes of Wikipedia pages whose subject matter renders them likely to suffer from the problem outlined above. The indexes contain links to additional information which is unlikely to be treated adequately, if at all, on corresponding Wikipedia pages.
Whenever a wikipedia plus user browses to a Wikipedia page, the page name is looked up on the alternate sites they have chosen. If it exists there, a notification pops up with links to the corresponding pages on the other sites.
Users
Users may value the alternative perspectives they receive from Wikipedia+. It searches in the background, and only makes suggestions when it has found a result of potential interest.
Requirements
Wikipedia Plus currently requires Mozilla Firefox, versions 3 to 5 inclusive.
- Download the latest alpha version here.
Installation
- Firefox versions 4 & 5: Select Tools/add-ons on the browser menu. From the drop-down box next to the search box at the top of the page, select "Install add-on from File....". Browse to the downloaded .XPI file and select it. You will be presented with a window warning you to "Install add-ons only from author whom you trust" and detailing the extension name and file selected. Click the "Install Now" button. The extension should install and you will be prompted to restart your browser.
- Firefox version 3: Select Tools/add-ons on the browser menu. A dialogue window will appear. Drag and drop the .XPI file to the window. You will be prompted to proceed/cancel the installation. Following installation a browser restart is required to use the extension.
Setup
After successful installation the extension icon and status will be present on the browser status bar (bottom-right).
- Clicking on the text toggles enabling/disabling of the extension with the current status indicated by text and text colour.
- Clicking on the icon will pop-up the WikipediaPlus Preferences dialogue window. The window comprises 3 tabs plus OK/Cancel buttons.
The Options and About tabs are self explanatory and intuitive. The Sites tab usage is as follows:
- There is a set of reasonably intuitive navigation, information and editing buttons to the right.
- The window contains a list of default site names and their corresponding url's.
Selecting one of the list items and clicking on the pencil icon to the right, or clicking on the right-hand + icon brings up a dialogue allowing editing of the selected site or entry of a new site. The dialogue is fairly self-explanatory.
Webmasters
The tool suits any websites whose material complements the perspectives on Wikipedia, whether because it directly contradicts it, or simply because it contains more detail than is contained on Wikipedia.
Requirements
Making a site ready for Wikipedia+ is a pretty straightforward task, as it doesn't require changing any existing pages. The first step is to choose a URL pattern by which Wikipedia+ can query the site, e.g. fir this site, it is http://www.wikispooks.com/wiki/{PageName} This is requested by the browser add-in, with {PageName} replaced by the name of a Wikipedia page. It must return a 404 (Page Not Found) code unless a page is matching available.
