[WikiEN-l] Re: WikiEN-l digest, Vol 1 #140 - 7 msgs

Thu Feb 13 18:31:08 UTC 2003

Jimmy Wales wrote:

>Not yet, but I hope that such will exist someday sooner rather than
>later.  But to move from our current format to print is a big
>undertaking, and I'm not sure we're ready yet to devote a lot of
>energy to it.
>
>Jesse Alter wrote:
>
>>Does the Wikipedia have an annual print edition, or something similar? I 
>>am assuming that it almost definately does not. The reason I ask is that 
>>a History professor would not allow me to cite the Wikipedia on the 
>>grounds that there was no print edition available, grouping it right in 
>>with fobidden Geocities sites.
>>
It seems to me that the professor is the one that is narrow and offside 
here.  There are many things that are on paper that are just as 
incredible as some of the things that are on the Net.

A paper edition would be a terribly expensive undertaking, and I don't 
know if we can create enough of a market to make it self-sustaining.  I 
forsee the CD version as a more practical goal.  If these were sold for 
production costs + shipping costs + a small markup to keep the project 
capitalized it could be reasonably priced to the public.  CD's are of no 
use in the third world where very few people have computers, but once 
established they may become a marketting tool for the paper edition.

A published version (whether print or CD) should also have a favourable 
effect in protecting copyrights.  I've mentioned before that I see the 
biggest long term problem around copyrights will not be about 
Wikipedians who copy material belonging to others, but about others who 
(over the next 95 years) try to copyright Wikipedia material as if it 
were their own.  Some version published outside the Net could be used as 
evidence that it was published when it was published in that medium. 
 One of the difficulties faced by projects which put material directly 
into the public domain or into any kind of open licensing (however that 
may be most broadly defined) is that nobody has enough of a vested 
interest to defend the material over an extended period of time. 
 Altruism often withers in the face of determined self-interest.

Eclecticology