I believe that the English language term you are looking for is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_English and the problem is that en.wiki policies already require plain english. The core of the issue is that writing in plain english is hard and currently there are few tools to support editors produce it.
A decent reading level test applied by section and calculated using a javascript tool that fitted into the standard wiki framework for tools would be a very useful addition. The tool could annotate the article and for new articles notify the article creator. Of course, we'd need supporting materials to aid editors learn plain english and so forth, but we have to start somewhere. cheers stuart -- ...let us be heard from red core to black sky On Sun, 10 Feb 2019 at 11:22, Ziko van Dijk <zvand...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Allow me to propose something different: Wikipedia needs better writing, > not technical solutions. And for different target groups, we need different > encyclopedias: > * for children > * for people with disabilities, such as > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leichte_Sprache > * for scholars, e.g. "Wikipedia scholar". > A different wiki for every target group can be arranged in the best > possible way for the target group. > > Kind regards > Ziko > > > > > Am Sa., 9. Feb. 2019 um 21:55 Uhr schrieb Aaron Gray < > aaronngray.li...@gmail.com>: > > > I am thinking maybe we could use subdomains for layperson, and for schools, > > and maybe universities to have specialized [approved] content also ? Just > > an idea given this possible mechanism. > > > > On Sat, 9 Feb 2019 at 20:15, Aaron Gray <aaronngray.li...@gmail.com> > > wrote: > > > > > Thank you please keep suggestions and pragmatics coming in ! > > > > > > I looked at this problem some time ago and the extra programming for what > > > I am proposing is quite minimal utilizing existing MediaWiki libraries > > and > > > adding extra code to support the tag structure with defaulting to make it > > > seamless to existing articles. > > > > > > I really think this would increase the usability and audience of > > > Wikipedia and also might possibly allow us to integrate content from > > other > > > Wikipedia projects. > > > > > > Regards, > > > > > > Aaron > > > > > > > > > On Sat, 9 Feb 2019 at 07:57, Amir E. Aharoni < > > amir.ahar...@mail.huji.ac.il> > > > wrote: > > > > > >> The suggestions that bring up the Simple English Wikipedia miss the fact > > >> that it only covers the English language, which most people don't know, > > >> and > > >> doesn't do almost anything for the many other languages of the world. > > (I'm > > >> saying "almost anything" because I know that there are people who prefer > > >> to > > >> translate articles from the Simple English Wikipedia, and this > > indirectly > > >> benefits other languages.) > > >> > > >> One thing about how Wikipedia works that practically no-one ever > > >> challenges > > >> is that every page title is associated with a page, and the page is > > always > > >> a single big blob of sections, section headings, templates and magic > > >> words. > > >> > > >> What if it was not a single blob? > > >> > > >> What if all the magic words, such as NOTOC, DISPLAYTITLE, and > > DEFAULTSORT > > >> moved to a separate metadata storage? > > >> > > >> More closely to this thread's topic, what if at least some sections that > > >> all or most pages have were stored separately, so that it would be > > >> possible > > >> to parse and render them semantically? The References section, for > > >> example, > > >> is something that many pages have. What if it could be separated from > > the > > >> prose blob and stored separately, so that it would be parsed > > semantically > > >> for different screens and contexts, such as Wikicite? Currently its > > >> rendering and storage is heavily biased for desktop and wiki syntax > > >> editing, and suboptimal for mobile display and editing, as well as for > > >> translation. > > >> > > >> And most closely to the thread's original topic, what if one page could > > >> have several lead sections? Sure, this can be done now with hacks such > > as > > >> templates and namespaces, but these are still hacks: they are not > > >> semantic, > > >> not portable across languages, and not easily machine-readable. > > >> > > >> Of course, doing all these things would require major, major changes in > > >> how > > >> Wikipedia's software works. Developers would have to write a lot of code > > >> and editors would have to get used to new things. But sometimes it's > > worth > > >> thinking our of the box instead of saying "that's not how Wikipedia > > >> works". > > >> > > >> בתאריך שבת, 9 בפבר׳ 2019, 02:16, מאת Aaron Gray < > > >> aaronngray.li...@gmail.com > > >> >: > > >> > > >> > I am suggesting WikiPedia has context-sensitive articles so if you > > are a > > >> > kid or a layperson or an expert in a field you get a different > > >> > introduction. > > >> > > > >> > Often the reason people don't read or use WikiPedia is articles are > > too > > >> > complex at the start. > > >> > > > >> > Having an adaptive setting that can be chosen but users as default > > needs > > >> > facilitating by WikiMedia technology. > > >> > > > >> > Thoughts and ideas and possible implementation ideas on this idea are > > >> > welcomed. > > >> > > > >> > Regards, > > >> > > > >> > Aaron > > >> > > > >> > > > >> > -- > > >> > Aaron Gray > > >> > > > >> > Independent Open Source Software Engineer, Computer Language > > Researcher, > > >> > Information Theorist, and amateur computer scientist. > > >> > _______________________________________________ > > >> > Wiki-research-l mailing list > > >> > Wiki-research-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > >> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l > > >> > > > >> _______________________________________________ > > >> Wiki-research-l mailing list > > >> Wiki-research-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l > > >> > > > > > > > > > -- > > > Aaron Gray > > > > > > Independent Open Source Software Engineer, Computer Language Researcher, > > > Information Theorist, and amateur computer scientist. > > > > > > > > > -- > > Aaron Gray > > > > Independent Open Source Software Engineer, Computer Language Researcher, > > Information Theorist, and amateur computer scientist. > > _______________________________________________ > > Wiki-research-l mailing list > > Wiki-research-l@lists.wikimedia.org > > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l > > > _______________________________________________ > Wiki-research-l mailing list > Wiki-research-l@lists.wikimedia.org > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l _______________________________________________ Wiki-research-l mailing list Wiki-research-l@lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wiki-research-l
