The Google Country Consultant of the Philippines scores some link love, for telling me about Wikipiniana. Do you have any interesting Filipino content you’d like to share with me? Let me know.
Wikipiniana is a mash-up of the words Wiki and Filipiniana (or is that Filipiñana? Saklolo! Filipinayzd, tulungan mo ako!). Basically, it seeks to be “the largest source of Philippine knowledgebase [sic]” and “the leading source of contents [sic] on the Philippines.” In short, a Wiki on Philippine topics and general knowledge that Filipinos read and contribute to. Currently the site features nearly 25,000 English-language articles.
I already imagine how the debate over Wikipiniana will go. And they’ll probably stem from comparisons with Wikipedia.
One side will claim it’s useless, since there’s already a body of knowledge on Wikipedia that people can build on. And shouldn’t Wikipiniana feature Filipino articles? Note that Wikipedia already features Pangasinan, Ilokano, Kampanpangan, Chavacano, and of course, Tagalog versions. All are written in dialects spoken in the Philippines.
But, the other side can attack Wikipedia’s western origins. For all intents and purposes, Wikipedia was founded in America. Doesn’t this mean that American standards, systems, policies and perspectives will influence the writing of even the local-dialect articles?
Personally, I have to side with Wikipedia. That site features better writing, which is a crucial requirement for any knowledge base to be useful. That’s because, if readers have a hard time understanding it, what’s the use? Yet, if Wikipiniana can get its act together, it can actually trump Wikipedia in the “battle” to provide Filipinos with a Philippine source of information that they can read and contribute to.
That’s because it has the potential to become a website that Filipinos can easily identify with. Much like how Jollibee was able to beat McDonald’s at its own game, by taking a western concept (fast food) and truly making it Filipino (adapting it to Filipino tastes). There’s a lot of work to do though.
What do you think?
22 Responses to “Is There Any Point to Wikipiniana?”
You know where I stand of course.
Oh yes I do, Mr. Wikimedia Philippines.
so do you think this site really has a point?
well, i think its about time to have a pinoy identity:)
Musta. Gusto ko ngang magkaroon ng Bikol Wikipedia. Ang Tagalog, Sugboanon, Ilokano atbp meron na. Hindi gets yung proseso. Tulong naman!
Well, being a Wikipedian, I’m biased for Wikipedia but here are my reasons why I think effort should be spent on Wikipedia instead of Wikipiniana:
1. The argument that Filipinos should be in complete control of its own content is not good. This creates bias and Wikipedia excels in avoiding bias because of its neutral point of view policy. I don’t think Wikipiniana can satisfactorily avoid the inherent bias towards the Filipino point of view.
2. Wikipiniana articles are unlikely to rank higher than corresponding Wikipedia articles in web searches (Yahoo!, Google, MSN, etc.). People all over the world, not just Filipinos, are researching over the web about Philippine topics. Do you think they’ll find Wikipiniana ahead of Wikipedia? I doubt it. So it makes sense to exert effort in improving Wikipedia articles instead of Wikipiniana.
3. Wikipiniana is, for all practical purposes, a fork of Wikipedia. Why duplicate the effort, especially since Wikipiniana does not offer anything new that can’t be seen or addressed in Wikipedia?
^_^: I just think Wikipiniana should go beyond just copying Wikipedia. Because most of the content I’ve seen on the former already exist on the latter.
pancho: Isn’t that possible on Wikipedia?
Filipinayzd: Padi, dai ko nga nahiling ng Bicolano sa Wikipedia or Wikipiniana. Cguro pwede kang magpatabang kay Eugene or Wikipiniana, at gibuhin to?
(Pasensya na kung raot an Bicolano mi, dikit lang ung aram ko hehe)
Eugene: The lack of unique content in Wikipiniana is exactly why I side with you on this matter.
i checked the site and they have some sort of “Top 10 Richest Pinoys” or something. “Top 100 companies..” the likes. Don’t you think that’s a new thing? more like a magazine cum encyclopedia? i guess we have to give them more time, they’re still new, right? when did it start by the way? anyone knows?
The beauty of Wikis is that some of them document their own formation, Wikipiniana included. Check out their history for more details.
Maybe if Wikipiniana aimed to be a different kind of reference/academic resource (maybe a Filipino almanaca, or an online Philippine yearbook?) instead of an encyclopedia then I would not be hard on them. I really just feel that the duplicated effort is an avoidable waste.
Urastig an Bikol mo Rico! Eugene, tabangi daw magmukna kan Bikol Wikipedia.
(Husay ng Bikol mo Rico! Eugene, patulong ngang gumawa ng Bikol Wikipedia.)
Filipinayzd, read this policy. You need a LOT of like-minded contributors who can speak Bikol so that a proposal can become a full-fledged Wikipedia project. I think all the information you need to start the Bikol Wikipedia is already there. Good luck!
The answer’s easy for me. If that’s what they feel and want to waste their time on. Let them be!
I’ve gone and created a more in depth answer to the question on my blog: “There is Currently No Point to Wikipiniana”.
Eugene: You’ve got that right! I’m sure readers will like seeing your points explained further.
Filipinayzd: Dapat lang padi, pirang taon akong nag-aral duman! Good luck! Aram kong maray na Bicolano ay interesado.
j4son: Oh don’t worry, I’m not trying to force anyone into anything. I just think the usefulness of Wikipiniana is a topic worth discussing.
Hayy. You know, this “debate” is nothing more to me as a crab-mentality. I’ve visited Wikipiniana and although it looks and feels like Wikipedia, it is unique and distinct from the latter. 1st of all, I think the aim of Wikipiniana is plain and simple; a free and online encyclopedia of the Philippines. So what is the point of arguing that Wikipiniana is a “clone” or “fork” of Wikipedia?
Secondly, instead of bashing, downplaying and out rightly rip Wikipiniana to pieces, why not help it grow? We musn’t forget that “as a warrior get wounded, he becomes stronger”. And also, isn’t it about time to have our own free and online encyclopedia? Like I said earlier, this debate is nothing more than a crab-mentality.
I am not defending Wikipiniana, per se. I honestly admit that I’m a Wikipedian but when I saw this Wikipiniana, I am thrilled that finally, a uniquely and distinctively Filipino website. And so what’s wrong in following Wikipedia? Japan copied everything from the west and made their copy as their own unique products. China too, copied and now made it their own. We mut learn from these examples.
Michael, since you’ve posted that same comment in my blog, I’ve responded there.
Pointing out Wikipiniana’s weakness is a way for it to improve. Personally, I have high hopes for the said project. Let us just hope they could be able to compete against the Wiki giant.
[...] those who don’t know, WikiPilipinas is the rebranded Wikipiniana. The new site features better presentation and stronger branding. As well as future versions in [...]
In my years of searching for books on the Philippines in Spain, I have noticed that it has always been foreigners who have written about us. I have come to the conclusion that we filipinos did not write. I believe it was because we always allowed our colonizers to do it for us. Or either we feared the repercussions that came about from doing so. Just see what happened to Rizal after writing the Noli and Fili.
Even the first biography of Rizal, “Vida y Escritos del Dr. José Rizal”, was written by a Spanish writer, Wenceslao Retana, published in 1907. Thanks to him, we know a lot about Rizal today.
So now, with Wikipilipinas, Filipinos are given a tool to write about ourselves, from our own point of view. It is about time that we did this ourselves. A lot of things that are written in wikipedia about the Philippines is from a foreigners point of view. So, what’s neutral about that. Neutral means having a balance fro both sides. Wikipilipinas, I believe, will create that equilibrium
Instead of bashing such noble efforts, I believe that we should contribute our grain of sand to record our own history and maybe the future generations of Filipinos will be able to understand our identity better than we do today.
wikipiniana is a great project. no doubt about it. this is the project of the philanthropist son of Mrs. Vibal. but being part of the core team who launched it, i can safely say that beauty is only skin deep. in my opinion, wikipiniana and the conflict diamonds are in a way similar. there will always be blood on the hands of the people behind this project.
Indiobravo: That’s a good point. What worries me about Wikipiniana is the lack of focus on editorial integrity.
vconnect: I really understand what you’re saying. Do you mean that in a bad or good way?
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