On 9/16/2013 7:33 PM, Risker wrote:
I am not certain that neutral point of view applies to all Wikimedia
projects. Wikiversity programs may deliberately examine one aspect of a
subject while ignoring others, for example. It is difficult to apply the
concept of "neutrality" to images and other media, some of which is
explicitly non-neutral (see the Jyllands-Posten Muhammed images). I am not
sure that "neutral point of view" applies to Wiktionary at all.
Once the topic unit is selected (an article title in Wikipedia, a word
in Wiktionary, or a destination in Wikivoyage, for example), I think a
concept of neutrality within that topic is not actually that difficult.
Whether we require it everywhere is a policy choice, but it is certainly
possible. Maintaining the design of a Wikiversity program need not be
different in kind from avoiding off-topic digressions in a Wikipedia
article.
Obviously it makes sense to adapt our understanding of neutrality to the
mission of each project. I believe our projects have generally tried
conscientiously to maintain that spirit in a way that suits their
context. But although it may superficially appear non-neutral to enforce
criteria and boundaries for topic units, I think the answer to that lies
in the ambition to universality of our projects. If by simply defining a
topic we deviate from neutrality, the way to restore it is by covering
all topics.
When dealing with source material, as with Wikimedia Commons or
Wikisource, then "neutrality" may be a concept one step removed from the
mission of the project. Faithful reproduction may be closer to what we
are really looking for. However, neutrality is still a value worth
considering in terms of the overall collection of source material, and
certainly in how that material gets presented and contextualized in our
other projects.
--Michael Snow
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