Wikijunior talk:Europe

From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection

Contents 1 Explaination 2 Criticism 3 Maps 4 Picture 5 The People Section 6 Kosovo 7 A few more ideas for country pages 8 Multi lingual versions of Wikijunior Europe 9 Development stubs 10 Reading level

[edit] Explaination

This is going to be a long and hard book to write. At present there are 48 countries in Europe and maybe 49 at the end of the year if Kosovo is given independence. It may, at a later date, also be necessary to add semi-independent entities like Isle of Man, Gibraltar and Faroe Islands. Any help writing this Wikijunior book would be much appreciated. Help with images, flags and maps would be fantastic as I don't know where to find these kind of resources. If you've any questions or problems send me a message on my talk page. Xania 23:46, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Criticism

Excuse me for being a critic on semi-independent entities but I think they shouldn't be added on unless if it declares independence at a later date then adding the date to it. Rakuten06 23:49, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

I understand that. I'm not suggesting that they are listed as independent countries but as a sub list under the "mother country". There are no plans in Isle of Man or Gibraltar for independence votes and I don't intend to show them as being so. Xania 23:58, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Maps

How about posting a map in all of the countries's geography? It will be easier for the kids. Rakuten06 00:02, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I plan to include maps of all countries and of Europe itself. Any help is appreciated. I've edited many hundreds of pages on Wikibooks but I don't have any experience with images or how to quote the source of images. Xania 00:04, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Maybe ask the staff for help or read the guidelines about the images... Rakuten06 00:09, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Picture

I can't find a picture-link on the main page. They have links like that to other things but not us. Huh? Laleena (talk) 22:11, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

The logo picture for Europe is too dark, barely recognizeable. --80.98.75.217 (talk) 11:59, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

Firstly there's no link from the main Wikijunior page because this book wasn't sanctioned by Wikijunior. Wikijunior "policy" states that new books must be voted for but I sidestepped this and created the book anyway last year. Books created without a book are hidden away in the 'also under development' section. As for the logo I agree. There are many Europe pictures available but I wanted one which shows 'all' of geographical Europe including places like Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Kazakhstan which are often not included in the maps (as they are often considered Asian). Xania ^talk 19:32, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The People Section

I'm interested in contributing to this book but I can see a potential problem. I think that it might be helpful to define what you're looking for in the "What are the people like" section a little bit better. I noticed while proof-reading the languages book that there is significant variation between sections on how much information people decided to include. Maybe we could think of some topics to try to stick to for each section. For example, how about:

• what holidays are important?
• what do they eat
• what languages do the people speak
• what religions are predominant.

The topics don't have to be separated into their own subsections. I'm just thinking that it would be helpful for all the authors to be roughly on the same page.I know that this could increase the scope of the book significantly but it could make it much more useful.Rmawhorter (talk) 23:56, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

That's a good idea and a good framework for editors to use. I'd add nationalities to the list also. --Xania ^talk 03:46, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

I should also add that one reason for the variation of how much information has been added is because much of this book has been edited by myself and therefore I have typed more for the countries I have visited (only about 25 of them) and lived in (5 of them). --Xania ^talk 21:37, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Kosovo

I think it's best that this region isn't covered at this time. Only a few countries have recognized its independence and it isn't a UN member and its independence hasn't even been authorised by the country it is trying to seceed from. --Xania ^talk 03:50, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] A few more ideas for country pages

It's nice that some of the country pages are being edited and have some information. I hope to do quite a bit on this book over the next few weeks. All country pages should have a photo or two to brighten the page up. I've also started adding progress indicators to the main page so people can see how much is complete and so we don't have lists of 'developing' 'stubs', etc. which would separate the order which is presently in alphabetical order. I've also added a new heading to a few of the country pages (so far only Italy and Serbia) called "Sights of x" which will focus on popular cities, tourist attractions and places. --ЗAНИA ^talk 23:21, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Multi lingual versions of Wikijunior Europe

A version of Wikijunior Europe has recently been created on the German and Romanian Wikibooks. You can find the links on the 'in other languages' links on your left when you view the Wikijunior Europe book. The German and Romanian books are less developed but hopefully they'll be expanded soon. --ЗAНИA ^talk 21:19, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Development stubs

I really need a guideline for how much information people are expecting to put into each country so that I can update the development stages. If one of the original authors could look through the pages and update the development stages then i would appreciate it. --Xxagile (talk) 03:20, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

There's no specific guideline but all books should include a brief outline of the country (capital, neighbours, currency, EU membership, etc.), a map showing its location within Europe, the national flag, a link near the bottom to the Wikipedia article, links to Wikijunior pages about the national language(s), a photo or two showing somewhere in the country and the following sections:

1. History - (general outline with key events and links to Wikipedia articles on a few of the events) 2. Geography - (outline of country as a whole, mountains, lakes, forests) 3. People - (nationality/ethnicities, languages, traditions, minorities) 4. Sights - (World Heritage Sites, tourist attractions) Most pages have about the right level. Some country pages need the language toning down a little to suit juniors and some history sections are too detailed. One thing that every country page must have is one or two beautiful photos.--ЗAНИA ^talk 00:50, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Reading level

• Grade Level --Use tools in WORD or at http://www.usingenglish.com/resources/text_statistics.php The fog index = the reading level. If you could post the reading level on the discussion pages of the country's it would be a huge help.

--Xxagile (talk) 21:39, 1 August 2008 (UTC)

The link you provided (over 4 months ago) doesn't seem to work. As a teacher of English, I'd be happy to rate the country pages of the book according to reading level if I can see the guidelines.--ЗAНИA ^talk 00:42, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

http://juicystudio.com/services/readability.php#readingresults This link has a readability test with a way to compare and determine the results for the project. I think that the fog index we should try to reach should be at or under a 6, but I would like your imput because you are an english teacher.Here are others if the first link should not work http://www.online-utility.org/english/readability_test_and_improve.jsp http://www.editcentral.com/gwt/com.editcentral.EC/EC.html--Xxagile (talk) 22:29, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

I haven't succeeded in getting the URL to work on that site to check readability. However I can say for sure that it isn't a reading age of 6 years old. I'd estimate the appropriate age at about 12 years old - there's far too much detail for younger readers and far too much focus on history and politics. In addition the language (language I've used) is more suitable for students finishing primary/elementary school and going on to secondary/junior high or media schools.--ЗAНИA ^talk 23:24, 5 November 2009 (UTC)