Wikibooks:What is Wikibooks

Wikibooks is a collection of open-content textbooks.

This page attempts to define what Wikibooks is, what it is not, and what distinguishes it from other Wikimedia projects. The descriptions on this page are relatively brief. Detailed discussion or debate should happen on the talk page.

What is Wikibooks

Since the word textbook is somewhat open to interpretation, this document exists to help clarify which types of content are acceptable for Wikibooks. For example, The Complete Works of Shakespeare might be considered a textbook in an English Literature course, but such a text would be inappropriate for this site.

What Wikibooks includes

Wikibooks hosts instructional resources.

As a general rule, most books you might expect to find in the non-fiction section of your local library or bookshop are not acceptable because of the list of exclusions in this policy. This is for textbooks. A textbook is a book which is actually usable in an existing class.

Wikibooks includes annotated texts

Main article: Wikibooks:Annotated texts

Although we do not permit verbatim copies of pre-existing works, we do permit annotated texts, which are a kind of text that includes an original text within it and serves as a guide to reading or studying that text.

Note that planned annotated texts with only slim prospects of ever actually becoming annotated may become candidates for deletion. For more information on this policy, see Wikibooks:Annotated texts.

Annotated editions of previously published source texts may only be written if use of the source text does not constitute a copyright infringement. Otherwise, these works are the property of someone else; we should respect their rights and avoid legal trouble. Copyright violations are suitable grounds for speedy deletion.

Wikibooks includes books based on Wikipedia articles

Note that "based on" does not mean "verbatim copies of". Wikipedia articles sometimes have a tendency to get rather long, and Wikipedia editors have a tendency to trim them down to a limit of around 32k of text. When this happens, it is permitted to fork such content from Wikipedia, provided the content is reformatted as a book, as per Wikibooks:Naming policy, and the Wikipedia entry is clearly marked to indicate that this fork now exists on this site, and further content should be added to the book, and not the Wikipedia article. When forking content from Wikipedia, you should correct any links which previously pointed to other Wikipedia articles so that they continue to point to those same articles, and not to non-existent articles on the Wikibooks site.

What Wikibooks is not

Below is a list of things that Wikibooks is not. Keeping the list of what this project is not while editing will help us stay on task.

Wikibooks is not a general repository for nonfiction works

All works here must conform to Wikimedia-wide policy of NPOV, no original research, etc. As such, the vast majority of books which you would find on the nonfiction shelves of a book store are not appropriate for Wikibooks.

Wikibooks is not a dictionary

Although a dictionary is a book, the needs of a general-purpose dictionary is better served at our sister project, Wiktionary. Also:

1. Wikibooks is not a thesaurus. There is a thesaurus project at Wiktionary:WikiSaurus. Books that only give lists of synonyms or slang can be deleted from Wikibooks.
2. Exception: Wikibooks does allow and encourage projects that require supplemental dictionaries or thesauri, such as a glossary. For example, a mathematical textbook might need a glossary of math terms; a foreign language textbook might include an English-to-foreign and foreign-to-English dictionary. For these dictionaries and thesauri to remain, they must be secondary and auxiliary to a main text.

Wikibooks is not a free wiki host or webspace provider

You may not host your own website, blog, or wiki at Wikibooks. If you are interested in using the wiki technology for a collaborative effort on something else, even if it is just a single page, there are many sites that provide wiki hosting (free or for money). You can also install wiki software on your own server. (See the Wiki Science wikibook for information on doing this.)

Wikibooks pages are not Personal homepages. Wikibookians have their own personal pages, but they are used for information relevant to working on free textbooks and other content on Wikibooks. If you are looking to make a personal webpage unrelated to textbook work (e.g. posting your résumé), please make use of one of the many free homepage providers on the Internet.

Wikibooks is not an encyclopaedia

Wikibooks is a resource for textbooks and other instructional material, and is not an encyclopaedia. Therefore:

1. Wikibooks modules are not individual encyclopedia-formatted articles. For an encyclopaedia, see our sister project Wikipedia. To reference encyclopaedia articles use interwiki links. Internal links here on Wikibooks link to other Wikibooks modules and between chapters of books. If you see a Wikibook with red-coloured internal links ("redlinks") pointing at top-level Wikibooks modules that do not exist, it may have been copied here from Wikipedia, where the links would originally have linked directly to encyclopaedia articles. (In some books such as the Cookbook and the book on Bartending, individual recipes have been transferred here from Wikipedia. Additionally, some books, including many on the how-tos bookshelf, were instructional texts written on Wikipedia, before the creation of the Wikibooks project, and transferred here.) You can help Wikibooks become a better place by changing the internal links in such articles into interwiki links that link to Wikipedia articles.
2. Wikibooks is not an in-depth encyclopedia on a specific topic. This is sometimes called a Macropedia, and is discouraged because most projects of this nature can be dealt with directly on Wikipedia itself anyway. Books generally have a stronger organization that builds knowledge from one module to the next with a suggested chronological order to the content. Encyclopedic entries usually stand alone with only passing reference to other content, demonstrating a difference between Wikipedia and Wikibooks. You may also want to look at Wikipedia:WikiProject as an alternative to starting a Wikibook, which would allow you to organize and index several encyclopedic topics under one general subject.

Wikibooks is not a news service

Wikibooks is not the place to publish news articles. That is covered by our sister project Wikinews.

Wikibooks is not a place to publish original works

Wikibooks hosts instructional resources. Wikibooks modules are not:

1. original works of fiction or literature — Wikibooks hosts non-fiction texts only. As such we do not allow original works of fiction or literature. Note that such content is welcomed at the Fiction Wikicity.
2. primary research in any field — Wikibooks is not a place to publish primary research such as proposing theories and solutions, original ideas, defining terms, coining words, et cetera. In short, Wikibooks is not for original research. If you have done primary research on a topic, publish your results in normal peer-reviewed journals, or elsewhere on the web, such as at Academia Wikicity.

Wikibooks is not a mirror or a repository for source texts

Main article: Wikibooks:Annotated texts

Wikibooks is not a repository of public domain source texts, which is the purpose of our sister project Wikisource, but rather for collaboratively developing new open-content texts. Exceptions are made for annotated texts, which are a kind of instructional material that includes an original text within it and serves as a guide to reading or studying that text.

Wikibooks is not a soapbox

Wikibooks is not a soapbox, or a vehicle for propaganda and advertising. Therefore, Wikibooks modules are not:

1. propaganda or advocacy of any kind. Wikibooks modules must always adhere to the neutral point of view. You might wish to go to Usenet or start your own blog if you want to convince people of the merits of your favourite views.
2. personal essays that state your particular opinions about a topic. Wikibooks is not a vehicle to make personal opinions become part of human knowledge.
3. advertising or self-promotion. We don't need books or modules on items just because a contributor is associated with them. Please note that Wikibooks does not endorse any business and it does not set up affiliate programs.

Wikibooks is not paper

Wikibooks is not paper. Thus, Wikibooks has no size limits, can include links, etc. It also means that the style and length of writing appropriate for paper may not be appropriate here. The authors of a Wikibook module don't worry about an event occuring tomorrow that makes all the large, expensive paper copies outdated, as the Wikibook will change as well.

Wikibooks is not for developing new Wikimedia projects

Wikibooks is not the place to develop new Wikimedia projects. This is the purpose of our sister project Meta-Wiki, a centralized wiki for the coordination of all Wikimedia projects.

In addition, you may find it useful to start a wiki outside of the Wikimedia Foundation, which you may be able to use to develop a prototype of your project. You might want to look at Wiki Science:How to start a Wiki or Wiki:WikiFarms to find a place to start your wiki. You might want to start your wiki at Wikicities because Wikicities uses MediaWiki and the GNU Free Documentation License to host their wikis; this is similar to what Wikimedia uses.

Wikibooks is not censored for the protection of minors

Wikibooks is not censored for the 'protection of minors' (content-rated). First, anyone can edit a module and the results are displayed instantaneously, so we cannot guarantee that a child will see or read nothing their parents may find objectionable. Second, Wikibooks has no organized system for the removal of material that might be thought likely to harm minors. However, modules can be, and are, censored by consensus.

It is important to note that content that would typically be considered offensive is usually a violation of one or more of the previously-mentioned policies or contains copyrighted content which is removed from this project without regards to its social value. Random defacement of pages and adding profanity is usually considered an act of vandalism and removed quickly without any formal community discussion taking place. Unfortunately you might just be viewing some page on Wikibooks immediately after this offensive content was added, and although we try very hard to clean stuff like this up as quickly as we can, we do miss some stuff every once in awhile.

Wikibooks is not a repository for video game manuals

Some content about video games could be appropriate, such as a textbook for an existing course on the impact of video games in our culture. But in general, game guides are not appropriate for Wikibooks.

Further reading

• Wikibooks:Copyrights — our official policy on copyrighted material
• Wikibooks:What is a module?

Similar official policies on other projects

• What Wikinews is
• What Wikinews is not
• What is Wikisource?
• What Wiktionary is not
• What Wikipedia is not

Other

• Wikisource:Wikisource and Wikibooks — the relationship between Wikibooks and Wikisource
• Wikipedia:Fiction — using Wikipedia, Wikibooks, and Wikisource in concert for comprehensive treatments of works of fiction