User talk:Naryathegreat
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Naryathegreat|(talk) 20:29, 30 Apr 2005 (UTC)
[edit] California standards discussion
Narythegreat,
Do you know what happened to the California standards that were up on the site? We have a bunch of professionals who will donate their work to the page if we use the California standards that were up originally. Can you help me find them and put them back up on the page? The person who started the page originally did so with that set of standards, then went off to get professional volunteers. Now that he has the volunteers, the standards are changed and he is understandable upset. We could maybe make two paralell projects, one using the originally specified California standard and another using the AP standard. What do you think. Can you help me out finding the California standard and getting it back online?
Thanks friend, --Karl Wick 21:16, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)Karl
Narythegreat,
I found the California standards and reinstated them. Please do not be angry with me. I appreciate of course your efforts. I notice that you moved some of the pages from "World History Project" namespaces to "World History" namespaces. What do you think if you develop your contributions in a paralell space that uses the AP standards and uses the namespace of "World History", and we reserve the "World History Project" namespace for the project that uses the California standards. What do you think of the idea? Assuming you come to be in aggreement ... my time to be on the Internet is very limited; would ou be willing and able to help me divide the work into two?
Thank you kind person, --Karl Wick 22:03, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
- Some quotes from the email they sent me: "We'd been setting up the possibility of having a bunch of World History experts contribute to the California-frameworks-based World History project, gratis. ... I was very disturbed to hear that they had been to the Wiki site and seen the California Standards project that we had discussed replaced by something called the 'AP World History Standard'. These are now deciding to beg off the project!" I hope you can understand where I am coming from on this ... --Karl Wick 22:10, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)
[edit] California Standards
Okay, here I go:
1. I really have to say I'm not a fan of changing back the standards. The California standard isn't very good. The AP standard is approved by a much broader range of people. The use of the California standard is a problem regionally also because newbies will think it's a regional project. I don't mean to discourage contribution, but the AP standard is used elsewhere, such as in the European and U.S. history projects with success (also I changed the project out of the title for simplicity and I kind of kept the other ones as a kind of guiding hand -- see World History, but honestly, I don't care if the project part is eliminated altogether). And furthermore, if there are so many willing contributors, where are they? You are wasting my time by saying that these experts won't contribute under the AP World History standard (which I made the title up but it is the standard for AP World History) and anyway, what kind of "experts" don't know what AP is?
2. There have been no edits for almost 4 months by anyone but me. It is ridiculous to demand that I bow to the demands of people who do not put forth any contribution for so long. I will not simply start again from scratch. I kept most the original articles and structure anyway, just changed the standard, and the California one isn't very good. It's an overly simplistic and western-centered one.
3. I will be very surprised if we go with the California standard and we see these "expert's" contributions pan out-you of all people must see that people lose focus after a while and abandon projects, like this one's former contributors. I doubt very highly that you will see anyone doing anything substantial for free after such a reversion. (And also, anyone can just copy and paste their research paper into the project anyway). I am avidly adding free material, and I welcome help, but what on earth is wrong with the AP standard anyway? I don't know a soul who after even a casual glance at both would support the California (standard). Also, since Wikibooks is so limited in its contributors anyway, we need to be accepting of other peoples ideas, and honestly the standards thing amounts to a bunch of bull anyway. People are going to add what they want and ignore such things in the first place. Very few of our projects have standards anyway.
4. As for the parallel namespaces idea, there seems to be little point in such a duplication of effort and I oppose it even if I have to bow to these peoples' (whoever they are, it is not clear to me) wishes. Also, I did come back and add to this comment, so I hope we don't cause misunderstandings with each other, and I apologize for the sloppy structure. Yours, kindly--Naryathegreat 03:10, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)
- Also, you'll note that I changed the standards on November 14, and actually it was a week before that, so you'll see that it took over a month for any of these "contributors" to notice the change anyway :(. I hope you weigh this fact in your opinion of the merit of the statement that these people are just enthusiastically waiting to contribute. My personal opinion is that it is a lie designed to get you on the side of reverting the standards, but I may be making a big error in judgement.--Naryathegreat 03:29, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Narythegreat, of course I understand that you are upset. Please try to overcome your emotion and remain polite, as I am sure that we can come to a conclusion that is convenient to everyone involved. Thankfully the wiki system makes reverts and changes relatively painless ... One of the first people to offer his help to the Wikibooks project is someone who has worked in the textbook industry for almost twenty years and has started his own not-for-profit with the goal of bringing open-content textbooks to the community, beginning in his native California. He in fact aggrees with you that the AP standards are superior, but as the person who originally started the World History Project as a trial is understandably upset to feel that other people have come in and taken over the project and changed the rules that were governing it.
I don't accuse you of breaking any rule, of course you put up notice of the proposed change of standards and gave time for any objectives to be brought forward, and neither he nor I objected at the time. I didn't know what he had in mind and I am living in Mexico right now with limited Internet access and am less active on the site for the moment.
What I am asking is for your understanding and help to divide the project into two distinct books, one that follows the line that this individual started, and another that follows the direction and the edits that you have contributed.
For the moment I have to act as the representative for this person, who is on the verge of leaving Wikibooks/Wikipedia permanently and advising all of his many high-level contacts of the very negative experience he has had trying to get a textbook together on Wikibooks. This would be a big blow to Wikibooks and I believe to open source textbooks in general.
All he wants is a place for his team of paid, professional textbook-writing history experts to continue the stub of a book that was begun on the World History Project page time back. At the moment these people were so enraged at the abandonment of the original standard that they refuse to continue with the project. I hope to negotiate with them to convince them to continue.
Narythegreat, I need your help. You have the power in your hands to help make this project and the whole site a greater success that will be used in actual classrooms, or to make things more difficult and set the whole site back. You of course are free to choose your course of action. And helping me does not mean that any of your changes have to be lost, because my plan is to make two books, one for each standard.
Please let me know what you think. Karl
[edit] California vs AP standard
Having taken both AP and regular California history classes, AP standards cover considerably more than what is required by the California standard. For that reason, I support the AP standard. I, however, don't understand how can both standards not overlap at least 75% of the way. If there some parts that do not overlap, we should try to meet both standards.--Alsocal 03:43, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)
[edit] a bit lost
Hi, My name is James and I'm registered as totalthinker on normal wikipedia. I think this project is really exciting and would like to take part, time permitting. However, I would like to add a few constructive comments;
1. I'm British and have never heard of Californias or AP's; if this site is for lots of people worldwide then this terminology is a bit restrictive and confusing, although I whink using such a course as a foundation guide is a good idea. Just don't include these names as foundational, or if you do then rename the course; "World History AP guide".
2. The contents summary is a bit cluttered and vague at points, for example combining medieval european and middle eastern cultures etc.
3. A very good site is HyperHistory which has a good but quite partisan history of the world; could provide some guidance.
4. The best overall intro to all this I have read was w.h. Mvneill's "The rise of the West". Don't be put off by the title! This book is simply excellent. I think it should be our guide/model.
Thanks, hope it helps.
James
--Firebird000 03:25, 26 August 2005 (UTC)== Helping with World History book ==
Hi. I just wanted to say that I'm glad you helped save the world history book. It's definetly something I'd like to help with. I'm not a history fanatic so I can't write essays on it, but I'd definetly would like to help with content and some graphics work. Definetly worth it.--Alsocal 10:07, 6 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Sure I'm helping. Just point me in a direction right now. I'm sure I can do that great a job right now, as I am busy with some other projects, but I should still be able to make a contribution.--Alsocal 10:16, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)
I'll be proofreading mostly and I'll see what I can contribute.--Alsocal 01:17, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)
I'll help out a bit. I'm a world history buff, so I'm good with most things. I wrote the Middle Eastern empires section (as of now, at least) so I did that. I have pretty good all-around knowledge. I could be an essayist or something, as well as continue working on chapters and what-not.--Constantijn 16:14, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Hi. I'm a former AP World History student myself, and I took the AP exam. I'd be happy to help write for the textbook. I already added an appendix on preping for the exam. --Firebird000 03:25, 26 August 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Nice job, and a suggestion
Hi there Naryathegreat. Great job you've done so far. It's a crying shame that this sort of project hasn't exploded, as it rightly should. If I could just make a couple of point
1. I would like to second the opinion offered above - I have never heard of either 'standard' or whatever pedants wish to call them. These 'professionals' clearly do not understand the meaning of Wikibooks as an open system, with communally decided standards etc. I would recommend a fairly loose system based around a constantly evolving and perfecting set of rules, as users discover errors, potential bias or faults and suchlike. I see the current set of standards as fairly good overall. If the individuals commented on above are so unbending, they are unlikely to be suited to the discussive method of editing that goes on around here!
2. This is ONLY a suggestion. Have you considered contacting individuals from Wikipedia who have written authoratative articles on topics such as History/World history/Ancient history/Modern history and so on? This could provide a method of crossover and crosslinking the two sites, and utilising the resources of both. Currently Wikibooks (mostly) is not sufficiently authoritative and peer-reviewed to be useful to Wikipedia, but the opposite could certainly provide the explosive growth you say you need and expect! If I were an historian, I would be very willing to commit myself to this project.
3. When the Project becomes large enough, it may be necessary to define certain areas necessary for various syllabii. Why not create a system of markers that can be added to the content, or even colour coding. If this book does start to grow rapidly, individuals will doubtless add content entirely surplus to the requirements of whichever standard is predominant.
Thanks --Mark Lewis 18:41, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC) (soon to be member Mark Lewis)
[edit] C++ Top Note
Oi Naryathegreat, just to explain you why I reverted your change on Prog.:C++
Sorry about it, but I do think that the box is really not needed as there is no real need to call attention to the wikibooks limitations :). The name of the page it is not yet set into stone, (that is why I used the spaces in the name) as you may know this is a fork from a prev. book also on wikibooks so the original name was taken and there shouldn´t be 2 books on the same subject so untill I solve the problem (by restructuring the work, merge etc... there is no solution for it).
- The title given to this book is incorrect due to technical limitations. The correct title is Programming:C++ (2).
Can you make a humm template, macro (cant remember the wiki name, or show me how, links etc...) with no box and a merge of the structure of what you did and I used so there is no loss of information (like that the limitation is due to Wikibooks, that will provide more info if the work is accessed outside of the wikiworld, without the use of the box the size of the line doesn't have so much importance, just the information provided by the notice), txs
Programming: C -/- -/- TopNote
PS: If you did not agree with my opinion, please move this post to the Talk section of the book, so we will debate and try to get more input on it, txs again
PPS: Herrr, rembered that I could look up what you did, so now I can TEMPLATE also :), I didn't change it (the template) before talking to you, did you use it on more books (that can be a problem, we can end up with lots of templates in place of local rewrites of the same wording) ? --Panic 07:17, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)
[edit] PC World
This magazine is ad-supported, is it not? Who is the largest advertizer? Riiiight...
No editorial bias there, for sure. :-)
[edit] Amazing!
Isn't it amazing that people from across the world can come together to write a textbook, which millions can instantly read? No printing, wasted paper, etc. Wikipedia etc. are one of the best reasons for the internet being available. Charlie123 12:53, 25 May 2005 (UTC)
[edit] where is the content for "Microsoft Word User's Manual"?
I just clicked through the the link on the page at: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Microsoft_Word_User%27s_Manual with text "click here to begin" which links to: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Microsoft_Word_User%27s_Manual:Contents That latter page seems to be entirely empty apart from the wikibooks framework for adding/adding-to/editing/commenting-on the page. What's up with that project?
[edit] Blanking
--Derbeth talk 12:12, 4 December 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Macroeconomics
are you planning on working on this wikibook? I have been examining it for a few days now and would like to revamp it. Your macrobar is definately a step in the right direction. DettoAltrimenti 18:50, 14 December 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Joining the World History Staff
Hello Narya!
I have been perusing your wikibook for the last few weeks and have noticed that you are in need of assistance. I am a California Public High School Student enrolled in AP World and AP US History over two years and have recieved a 5 on both exams. I also tutor other students in both subjects. I was wondering if I could have the opportunity to join your staff as I love to contribute to others' understanding of this fabulous subject. Thank you!
The Bamboozler
P.S. My email is yuri37@gmail.com. Please contact me there. Thank you.
[edit] Image copyright problem with Image:Book.jpg
Thanks for uploading Image:Book.jpg. The Wikimedia Foundation is very careful about the images included in Wikibooks because of copyright law, and requires that we maintain a strict copyright policy. The image that may soon be deleted unless we can determine the copyright holder and status.
The copyright holder is usually the creator, the creator's employer, or the last person who was transferred ownership rights. Copyright information on images is signified using copyright templates. The three basic license types on Wikibooks are open content, public domain, and fair use. Find the appropriate template in Wikibooks:Image copyright tags and place it on the image page like this: {{TemplateName}}.
Please signify the copyright information on any other images you have uploaded or will upload. Remember that images without this important information or giving false information can be deleted by an administrator. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, or ask another Wikibookian at the help desk. Thank you. – Mike.lifeguard | talk 01:59, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Wish to Join World History
Hello. I was looking around at World History and I decided that it is a project that I would like to get involved in. I am a college student who happens to like history and World History is what I am currently studying.
If you have no objections, I would like to start filling in Europe in the Middle Ages. Any suggestions you might have would, of course, be welcome.
I look forward to working together.
[edit] Image:Puzzle.jpg is missing a fair use rationale
[edit] Maps World History
I'd be glad to help with the maps on you World History Book. I've added a few recently. (Red4tribe (talk) 15:22, 20 May 2008 (UTC))
[edit] Joining world history
Hello, I'm very interested in the work being done to the history books, and I would love to join the team. I am currently studying world history, and hope to contribute as much as possible. If you don't have any objections, I would like to start adding content about the Ancient Middle East. Thanks!
