Interviews focused on the craft of writing encyclopedia articles (trials & tribulations, tools and references, editing environment)
Topics edit
- Wikipedia:List of Wikipedians by featured article nominations
- wikiversity:WikiJournal of Humanities
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Quality Article Improvement/Precious#Precious 2019
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Editor Retention/Editor of the Week#2019
- Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Newsroom/Resources#WikiProject report
- Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Series/WikiProject report
I did a brief series a while back on Brianboulton (sorely missed, wish my questions were better) Charlesjsharp, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, and TRM, with the intent of making a 'from the experts: tips on writing featured articles' a sort of handbook, a project that I would happily pick up again if people enjoyed reading them Eddie891 Talk Work 23:34, 3 January 2020 (UTC)[1]
Potential questions edit
These are just some questions to start. The idea is to have a few rounds of follow-up (if not a live chat) to write a fuller profile on you as an editor. Skip anything that doesn't resonate with you.
- What is your best work? (And what makes it so?)
- How did you come into this work? (What led you to it?)
- Of the article's source material, which were the most striking and what about it? Did you find anything interesting that you discarded or couldn't use?
- How did you plan or pace out the project? To what degree did you follow the plan, or did anything unexpected happen?
- What sources do not exist on this topic that should? (What are its known gaps and missing perspectives, based on the extant source material?)
- How did you come into this work? (What led you to it?)
- When an otherwise experienced editor enters your topic area for the first time, what will they notice or question about its standards? (e.g., structure, sourcing, collaboration method)
- What systemic gaps in coverage exist in your topic area? Who is writing the secondary sources to address it?
- What systemic gaps in coverage exist in your topic area? Who is writing the secondary sources to address it?
- How do you write? I.e., apart from the standard browser setup, what editing habits/tools or research techniques are part of your process? (scripts, software, physical reference, interpersonal connections)
- What reference works or features do you use most often?
- What lessons/readings have been most illuminating for you as a writer?
- How does your writing/editing differ from your peers?
- What reference works or features do you use most often?
- Do you work closely with any other editors, and how does your relationship work?
- Has there been a time that you've been fearful to contribute to Wikipedia?
- What editors do you admire, if any, and what about?
- What editors have been most influential on your style/technique?
- What editors have been most influential on your style/technique?
- To what extent are you involved/interested in non-writing aspects of the encyclopedia? (gnoming, behavioral discipline, cleanup, content disputes, WikiProjects)
- What advice would you give to an editor upon finishing their first WP writing project?
- Upload a photo of your desk/workspace?
- (Feel free to expand below on whatever you'd like)