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Wikiversity talk:Moving Wikiversity forward

Note: ''This page was created at the Mediawiki meta-wiki (see Moving Wikiversity forward). It is reproduced here as an historical archive. Summary: this page contains discussions about the future of Wikiversity held starting from shortly after the community vote on the original project proposal (page created 7 November, 2005). In mid-December the discussions shifted to Modified project proposal''

Wikiversity as a common resource
I’ve been to a couple conferences that were attended by librarians and teachers. Each time I mentioned the possibility of Wikiversity being a school unto itself I got a lot of negative feedback. I mean, who is going to teach for free? Teaching is a multi-month effort that requires a lot of daily time. But I got *very* positive responses when I described it as a common resource for teachers and students at existing schools to develop and use class material. There is a HUGE amount of needless duplicated effort in creating things like lesson plans, quizzes, and other course material. Wikiversity could help reduce a lot of wasted effort.

So, pitching Wikiversity as a common resource is a non-threatening and neutral way to go about this. This is the type of approach that IBM took with its support of GNU/Linux; they could have put all their money and effort into creating their own distribution, but instead they supported GNU/Linux in general. Thus IBM was a largely neutral force and their effort was seen as a big success for deploying IBM products for Linux and as helping the GNU/Linux platform in general. Corel took the opposite route; they created their own distribution and launched Word Perfect for Linux. Well, it would be better to call it WordPerfect for Corel Linux since it was widely perceived as not working very well with other distributions (to a certain extent, this was true, but I think the perception was stronger than reality). The result: Corel Linux and WordPerfect for Linux lost a lot of money and didn’t create any long term benefits to GNU/Linux. If instead, they supported GNU/Linux in general, then I think that WP for Linux would have had a much better chance to succeed.

In short: We should launch Wikiversity as a neutral resource. The courses would be developed to the point where a self learner could use them to learn entire courses for free. That’s fine. Others will use the same courses while being guided by a teacher from a school that is not affiliated with Wikimedia. That student will get credit from that school – not from us. If and when there is ever a big push to start an actual school, then those people would be more than welcome to start their own school that uses Wikiversity as a resource. But the school should not be part of Wikimedia (we may decide to help set it up; but after that, they would be on their own). We should remain neutral.

-- Daniel Mayer 13:32, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

 * Open Source Teaching is relevant to a discussion of a "learning and teaching community". Please have a look. • Quinobi 00:07, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

living books
Comments on the above. I think that it is reasonable to expect that the Wikiversity community will eventually be able to produce wiki-format "textbooks". My guess is that "wiki-format textbooks" will greatly differ from conventional printed textbooks; they will be "living books". I think that the Wikiversity textbooks will be modular collections of teaching aids that facilitate online learning. The "wikiversity textbooks" will evolve towards linked sets of interactive "lesson modules" that can be explored by self-motivated students. If so, then "Wikiversity as a common resource" will be a wiki where such learning modules can be developed and made available to the world.

 * Did you know that there is a Wikimedia sister project, Wikibooks, where users collaborate on instructional textbooks? --Kernigh 21:58, 10 December 2005 (UTC)

 * There is a distinction that can be made between producing a textbook and producing a wiki community that promotes learning. Textbooks are are one tool that students often use in universities. In my view, Wikiversity will not be a place where students go to find textbooks. That is what Wikibooks is for. Wikiversity will be a wiki where people go in order to be involved in projects/courses that will require the learner to edit wiki pages. Learning at Wikiversity might in some cases involve use of a textbook from Wikibooks and some Wikiversity participants will help to build Wikibooks. My expectation is that most of the "learning materials" used within Wikipedia will look nothing like a traditional textbook. "Linked sets of interactive lesson modules" means wiki pages that function to promote participation in a Wikiversity project. Learning will mainly be "by doing", by editing Wikiversity pages and articles at other wikis such as Wikipedia. I think the first Wikiversity "project" should be a "service project" for Wikipedia. Wikiversity should create an organized system for helping educate Wikipedia editors in how to find good sources, evaluate sources and references, and make sure that everything in Wikipedia is supported by verified references. Someone may decide to make a textbook at Wikibooks called "How to Edit Wikipedia", but Wikiversity would mainly be concerned with providing a wiki community that promotes good research and scholarship practices, skills that Wikipedia needs now in order solve its problems. At one time, Wikiversity could have been an integral part of Wikibooks, but the decision was made to throw Wikiversity out of Wikibooks. Wikiversity will go its own way. --JWSurf 18:02, 11 December 2005 (UTC)

 * Wikiversity should create an organized system for helping educate Wikipedia editors in how to find good sources, evaluate sources and references, and make sure that everything in Wikipedia is supported by verified references. I do not edit Wikipedia much, but an index of sources would help me write verfiable Wikibooks. This idea might be worth starting a new wiki, which might be called "Wikiversity" or some other name.

 * ...but the decision was made to throw Wikiversity out of Wikibooks. The current Wikiversity is not completely separate from Wikibooks, and includes a lot of content that should stay at Wikibooks. If you look at Wikibooks:Wikiversity:School of Computer Science/IntroProgramingC, it contains "lectures" and "quizzes". Both lectures and quizzes belong in a textbook at Wikibooks. --Kernigh 01:53, 17 December 2005 (UTC)

 * Keep in mind that the reason why Wikiversity was even considered for removal out of Wikibooks was twofold:
 * Wikiversity needed to go beyond the mission of Wikibooks. There are clearly tasks for Wikiversity that would not be appropriate within the structure of Wikibooks.
 * There already was an existing Wikiversity for German that was started (perhaps against existing Foundation policy) on its own domain/server. (don't get technical here.) The request to start en.wikiversity.org was flatly turned down dispite there being a http://de.wikiversity.org/ that currently exists and is run by the Wikimedia Foundation.  That this still has not been fully explained as to why the German version already exists.
 * There was never anything within Wikibooks that felt that Wikiversity should not happen, but that it was constrained if it stayed within Wikibooks. BTW, the VfD was never fully resolved, and as a Wikibooks admin I could not realistically support a deletion of Wikiversity with the discussion that took place at Wikibooks, and would immediately restore any attempt at deletion, with appropriate complaints in the usual forums.  This discussion in many ways is simply an outgrowth of that initial VfD.  --Roberth 18:33, 17 December 2005 (UTC)

 * There was never a consensus to delete, but it got a lot of votes for delete. A working wikiversity would require several things that are against wikibooks is/is not-  namely forming communities and non-book pages.  --Gabe Sechan 09:24, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

Linking wikiversity to the existing Wikimedia community
How do we establish a Wikiversity community of wiki editors that will develop such learning modules? What has prevented the development of such "course material" so far?

One problem is, that there has never been a wiki devoted to the construction of interactive wiki-format learning modules. Most of the effort at wikibooks centers on making wiki-format copies of conventional textbooks. These efforts have not built upon the realities of the existing Wikimedia community and the reality of the type of intellectual activity that is involved in producing "course material". Creation of a Wikiversity namespace is the first step in liberating Wikiversity from the problems imposed on Wikiversity by the approach to textbook construction that dominates Wikibooks.

What needs to be done differently at Wikiversity? In my view, Wikiversity would be wise to start with the needs and strengths of the existing Wikimedia community. In particular, Wikiversity should start its growth by making use of Wikipedia editors as its first "students". What are the critical learning needs of Wikipedia editors? Wikipedia is in the process of trying to produce more authoritative articles. To do this, Wikipedia editors need to participate in community efforts to research topics and distill their research into well-referenced Wikipedia articles. Wikiversity's first priority should be to establish links between Wikipedia articles and Wikiversity pages that will be the sites of community-driven research projects. Every Wikipedia article can be supported by Wikiversity pages that list sources of information and critically evaluate that information. Wikiversity can produce interactive "learning modules" that teach Wikipedia editors how to find information sources for particular types of topics, critically evaluate sources, and produce Wikipedia articles that cite the sources of all information.

Specific examples.

Wikipedia has many medical/health-related articles where the contents of the articles need to be based on the best available information from the biomedical literature. Wikiversity should have a "core service course" where Wikipedia editors can learn how to access the biomedical literature, evaluate that literature and produce well-reference articles. Wikipedia medical/health-related articles should be linked to Wikiversity pages that are devoted to researching medical topics. When disputes exist (for example, how should Wikipedia best present claims that AIDS is not caused by HIV?) these disputes can be taken into the research space of Wikiversity for detailed analysis of the relevant biomedical literature.

Wikipedia has many articles related to current events and political disputes. Wikiversity should have a "core service course" where Wikipedia editors can compile lists of sources of information about current events and through community effort evaluate the relative merits of the sources. Wikipedia articles that involve politically-motivate disputes should be linked to pages within Wikiversity departments that specialize in political science and other relevant disciplines. These Wikiversity pages should stress the importance of constructing Wikipedia articles that cite all sources of information and present all sides of disputes.

Similarly, many Wikipedia articles are concerned with controversial historical events. Such Wikipedia articles should be linked to the Wikiversity history school which would provide research space for a community effort to evaluate relevant sources of information about the disputed historical events. The Wikiversity school of history could have a "core service course" that teaches Wikipedia editors how to find sources of historical information, how to critically evaluate that information and how to construct Wikipedia articles that cite all sources of information and present all sides of disputed historical events.

I think that such "core service course" should be the first priority of Wikiversity because they would provide a needed service for the Wikimedia flagship project (Wikipedia) and have the best chance of attracting "students". The Wikipedia editors with the most experience in researching history, politics, medical (and other major topic areas) would serve as Wikiversity "teachers", showing other editors how to produce good Wikipedia articles in various topic areas. Wikiversity would provide an organized way of dealing with the existing need of Wikipedia to produce better articles.

I think that the "core service course" phase of initial Wikiversity development will establish a key reality of Wikiversity: Wikiversity students must be wiki editors. Wikiversity MUST build upon the power of the wiki interface. Wikiversity learning communities should not adopt a sterile model in which "teachers" produce static course material that "students" passively consume. Wikiversity learners and teachers must interact with each other through the wiki interface. Students must edit Wikiversity pages in order to express their learning goals and provide feedback on the learning process. Also, the boundary between learners and teachers is fluid. As soon as someone learns something they can become a teacher. It is best if this happens immediately so that the people who have just used a learning module can act to improve that module, fixing problems and rough spots that give the learner difficulty.

Once Wikiversity learns how to build wiki-based communities that satisfy the kinds of Wikimedia project-oriented "service functions" described above, there will be a natural process of developing further Wikiversity "course materials" that go beyond the basic needs of existing Wikimedia projects. Some of the people who come into Wikiversity by way of Wikipedia and other existing Wikimedia projects will want to go more deeply into Wikiversity topics. Wikiversity should have a system by which potential Wikiversity students can announce to the community, "I wish I knew more about X." I would define Wikiversity students as members of the Wikiversity community who actively edit Wikiversity pages. Particularly during initial development of Wikiversity learning modules, there needs to be active cooperation and feedback between the members of the Wikiversity community who will function as learners and teachers. One way of starting this process will be for Wikiversity to include "ask a question" pages similar to those that exist at Wikipedia. One of the problems of Wikiversity while it has existed at Wikibooks is that it has been built upon instructors starting courses and hoping that students will materialize. What Wikiversity needs is a system for identifying the needs of potential Wikiversity students and creating new learning modules (Wikiversity pages) that will address those needs.

Eventually, and with time, Wikiversity can be expected to include a full range of learning modules and "wiki-format textbooks" that will fully cover traditional academic disciplines. Wikiversity will also be able to escape from tradition and provide learning opportunites that meet the current needs of learners and are not stuck in the past due to the institutional momentum that characterizes conventional universities. Wikiversity needs to take advantage of the power of the wiki user interface to create dynamic online learning communities. Making a wiki-based copy of conventional acredited universities is aiming too low as the ultimate goal of Wikiversity. --JWSurf 16:28, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

radical departure
This is a radical departure from the Wikiversity that we once knew, but it is a move in a good direction. I'd class our current mission statement as "laughable" rather than "threatening"; what we have set out will not happen for a long, long time. What you've outlined is definitely a more tangible goal than that of becoming an institution in our own right straight away.

I like the sound of the "better Wikipedia researching" guides. Once we've got our .org and have some proper breathing space I'll dig around for some handouts I have on the matter (which I hopefuly didn't just throw away). That will be one of the most immediately useful courses to have as there will already be a userbase aware of this resource's existence, rather than being left in our own little oblivious world until a teacher or two happens across some content.

I would suspect that Wikiversity may well absorb the Academic Publishing Wiki, although we would have to confront the dreaded No Original Research to do so. Regardless, I hope to see both a self-critique journal of our achievements and content/software shortcomings (aimed predominantly at editors and critics) as well as a periodical with a more light magazine-style format (aimed predominantly at visitors and educators). The magazine (Wikizine?) would allow people to casually find out what happened on any given month without needing to use the staid and unfriendly archives of Goings-on and wikiversity-l.

 * Regarding the wikiversity-l mailing list at the link provided above, it is currently reported as non-existent. This is possibly a typo in the link or possibly is anticipating a Wikimedia Foundation Board approved action.  When the correct link is inserted above (for example someone resorts to managing to an external mailing list resource or the Wikimedia supported mailing server is setup ... then please delete this paragraph after correcting the link above.  Thanks! Lazyquasar 01:42, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

As for writing books, I'm not sure that they should be developed anywhere other than on Wikibooks (which was originally created with that very purpose!), but there will no doubt be a blurring between what is a book and what is extraneous material. Either way, getting that blasted single login implemented will help greatly.

As for the Reference Desk, there has already been talk of how unmanageable it is becoming. Despite new categories being opened it just keeps on growing; if we were to move the Desk to Wikiversity that would not only lighten the load on WP but also attract an audience of casual visitors who would otherwise be oblivious to Wikiversity's existence. Also there is the possibility of archiving frequent questions via some easily-retrievable method and perhaps even integrating those questions and answers into new material in turn.

 * I suggest we keep the initial reference desks manageable for as long as possible (giving another solution time to evolve) by encouraging that each school set up its own reference desk as participation becomes available committed to supporting it. I will set up such a desk for the School of Engineering Wikiversity:School of Engineering:Help Desk as I am anticipating an influx over the next few months of candidate engineers studying for professional EIT (Engineer-in-training)[] and PE (Professinal Engineer U.S. State issued licenses to be legally responsible for the quality of engineering services provided that impact public safety for fee) exams.  Naturally an excellent review strategy is studying with others studying same material and tutoring or helping develop materials related to personal weaknesses.  Obviously anyone with an engineering background can probably respond helpfully to engineering related requests for information while likely being much less helpful/useful/efficacious regarding how to find information on careers or issues related to chemicals in the brain or Mozart's, Michiavelli's or Plato's contributions to humanity; at least the first time hit with such a RFA (Request For Assistance). Lazyquasar 01:59, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

That would also help with one of my main concerns, that of attracting contributors from the Wikipedia userbase. A good number of Wikipedians seem nigh oblivious to Wikibooks' purpose and guidelines (as evidenced by votes to transwiki just about anything); since Wikiversity is in turn the bastard child of Wikibooks how well will it fare in their eyes? The more "legitimate" content we can put forward the better.

Anyway, things are certainly sounding promising, and far more realistic. This is essentially what I wanted from Wikiversity from the beginning, and this is what I knew it would inevitably become whether unknowingly or deliberately. Garrett 01:27, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

Research Reference Desk
Comments on Garrett's thoughts, above.

"the dreaded No Original Research" Wikinews provides an example of a Wikimedia project that is open to original contributions (original reporting). There is no reason why Wikiversity should not adopt a policy that makes room for original research. Personally, I feel that research is central to any university.

"As for writing books, I'm not sure that they should be developed anywhere other than on Wikibooks" I assume you mean textbooks. Textbooks are not the only books that university members produce. I think Wikiversity should facilitate all forms of scholarly activity, including the creation of books that are not wanted at Wikibooks. Also, most textbooks arise from processes of development that has not been supported by Wikibooks. In particular, many good textbooks arise from the experiences and activities of university members. Wikibooks has not been open to the processes by which textbooks are normally created by members of universities. The only model accepted by Wikibooks is the Wikipedia model of wiki webpage construction. I agree that books should be developed at Wikibooks, but narrow minded folks at Wikibooks have said, "do it the Wikipedia way or hit the highway". I think Wikiversity will discover how to create living textbooks that arise naturally from the activity of learning communities in a wiki environment.

Reference Desk Wikiversity editors will be able to help with conventional Reference Desk activity, but Wikiversity needs to take it on another step. Maybe Wikiversity needs a link in the navigation box that is called "I want to know...". The "I want to know" pages of Wikiversity would encourage Wikiversity users to express their learning needs and goals. The Wikiversity community would then take that input and use it to help individuals towards their learning goals and in so doing, to build and shape Wikiversity. --JWSurf 15:39, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

Searching for the rules that govern wiki growth
I have been reading some of the history (by the way, I hope the Wikiversity School of History will organize an effort to better record the history of Wikimedia projects) of the origins of other Wikimedia projects and trying to formulate some "rules of thumb" for thinking about how to grow new Wikimedia projects. Two closely related rules have taken over my thinking, and a third keeps lurking nearby.

One rule is that "wikis have minds of their own." I have spent 20 years studying how minds are produced by distributed networks of neurons. Similarly, unexpected emergent behavior is seen in the swirling "group intelligence" of a wiki. I have suggest elsewhere that that humans are members of a kingdom, the Semantotes, creatures with the mental capacity to exist as producers and consumers of information that has rich semantic content. I previously suggested that it may be constructive to view wikis as "semantic prosthetics" that can function to aid human learning. If we accept the idea that "wikis have minds of their own" then we can look upon wikis as being members of a new genus of Semantotes, a new type of "beast" that exists symbiotically with humans. The "group mind" of a wiki can facilitate learning by humans and humans can facilitate the growth of wikis as they become increasingly useful learning aids.

Wikis can function as thought magnifiers. Wiki technology allows for a torrent of human thought from a distributed group of users to be directed at any topic. If we hope to predict wiki behavior we need to become naturalists and study wiki behavior in the wild, we need to study the social forces by which the wiki lens is focused and aimed on particular topics. It is a cliché, but when dealing with wikis we have to expect the unexpected and we might as well plan for it. In my view, that means having the courage to let wikis go wild and find their own destiny without trying to artificially impose conventional expectations. If our goal is to make wikis more useful as tools for facilitating human learning, we work towards that end by respecting the realities of the wiki "beast".

The second rule, closely related to the first, is that "you can't make a wiki jump through hoops". I naturally have habits of thought and expectations for how wikis will grow, but my expectations are largely built upon the non-wiki world I grew up in and the non-wiki systems I have grown to be familiar with. I have to force myself to stop trying to apply my non-wiki expectations to the behavior of wikis. It seems to me that the way to move past my old habits of thought is to look carefully at what wiki editors are doing today and think realistically about what they are likely to do tomorrow. The default path for wiki editors is to do "more of the same" but there are ways to push editors in certain directions and towards new patterns of editing. Wiki editors are technophages. Wiki editors prowl the wiki landscape looking for new tricks, tools and technology that will improve their online experience. One powerful way to deflect editors away from what they were doing yesterday is to give them a link to a new page that holds content that the editors easily understand as being about something that will improve their wiki experience. A wiki editor sees lots of wiki webpages and most of them offer nothing new and useful. If Wikiversity wants to attract editors, Wikiversity must constantly feed the wiki editor (technophage). Pie-in-the-sky dreams of "what Wikiversity might be someday" do not satisfy the hunger that drives the wiki-editing technophage. Setting forth a glorious goal such as "create a university" does not feed the needs of wiki editors and they just move right on past. It is useless to say to wiki editors, "Hey, build a university!" Even if they would like to do so, by simply holding up the hoop and saying "Jump!" you have not created the means for them to do so.

The third rule for how to build a wiki is "just say no". Conventional institutions prosper and persist by finding systems that function (they need not even function very well), harnessing those systems, and exploiting them until they die a whimpering death, usually decades after they have become a liability and hinder new progress. Everything in wiki space is accelerated. We cannot afford institutional ossification. When wiki editors find a wiki webpage that emits the stink of institutional ossification, liberation is just a click away. Of course, it is the easiest thing in the world for a wiki editor to add toxic content to a wiki. Above, I tried to describe the natural process by which we fall into the habit of applying conventional thinking to wikis. As soon as that process starts the wiki is infected and additional editors will join in, reflexively endorsing familiar non-wiki conventions. You can quickly end up with a wiki webpage that gives comfort to those who are happy with convention, but this is death for a wiki. Dwelling on conventional, non-wiki thought systems sucks the life out of wiki editors who might otherwise create a new path into the wiki future. In order to keep wiki users engaged in the process of growing a wiki, wiki users have to be empowered to just say no to "conventional wisdom". Wikiversity should institutionalize systems that allow wiki users to take control when they see something that is not helpful and not going to benefit the wiki: taking control starts with just saying no to conventional thought that is damaging to the growth of Wikiversity.

All wikis are relatively new. It is very hard for me to accept that anything connected to wikis has been optimized. Some people put a lot of work into a wiki and then start to defend that work against alterations. Some people just fall in love with an existing wiki idea or system and stop looking for a new and better idea and ways to make a better wiki. Many of us are just too lazy to do the work that must be done to tear down and rebuild a wiki or even a small part of it. Such natural human tendencies towards ossification of wikis must be resisted. Revolution and growth must be institutionalized, not entrenchment. As a good wiki motto, "just say no" is a way to escape from dead ends. When we see something that does not work we have to speak up and just say no, this is not working. We must do better. In the wiki economy of ideas, we must kill bad ideas quickly so that the good ideas can grow. I hope wikiversity can embody an ethic of being open to new ways of doing things because we have to believe that wonderful new things are going to come from Wikiversity and we have to find ways of allowing them to come, as User:Garrett said above, they will come either unknowingly or deliberately. I think we have to build a wikiversity community that will unleash the power of a collective wisdom that will grow Wikiversity regardless of our own individual limitations. In that spirit, I am going on record as just saying no to suggestions that Wikiversity cannot go forward without a master plan for how to create an accredited university. No. That is not the way to grow Wikiversity. Let's make Wikiversity in a new way, the wiki way, even if we do not entirely know what that means. All we need is an algorithm: look at where Wikimedia editors are today and figure out how to keep them clicking the hyperlinks towards Wikiversity webpages that support research, collaboration, and exploration of the ideas that are of interest to each individual Wikimedia editor. At the start of Wikiversity the way to do this is to feed the learning needs of existing Wikimedia editors. Once we figure out how to do that, we will have found the basic system for growing wiki learning communities and that meme will spread beyond the existing needs of Wikimedia projects. --JWSurf 14:52, 11 November 2005 (UTC)

 * Another way to say some of the above is to Just find a way to say yes together Perceptions vary but my observations and analysis at Wikipedia concluded that the entire Wikimedia project was slowed significantly by consistent demands that volunteers work on others crystallized definitions of Encylopedia articles. If they had said no but we shall find ways to allow you to work on x at .... other Wikimedia projects .... a little quicker; then they might have attracted the talent and funds to support a better quality growth rate. Currently the only effort I apply to maintenance or improvement of content at en.wikipedia.org results from studies here at Wikiversity leading to its use as a reference source.  Should I (and/or others) move to a competing free university grid portal; it is likely that this effort will be diverted to the user local grid wiki learning environments; if the Wikimedia Foundation cannot get its act together and figure out how to keep reliable fast access available.  It does not matter how good Wikipedia or Wikiversity is by traditional publishers content standards.  If I cannot reliably access it when I have time to work or study it is fairly useless on an extremely personal in your face basis.  Any U.S. Institution that can raise ten of millions of dollars for new tailored sports stadiums; specialized libraries; discipline buildings, labs, custom facilities; chair endowments; etc.; could certainly approach its alma mater association about establishing an endowment for the local wiki grid components. Open development via the FDL implies (by design) that they do not start years behind us, they start at par as soon as their students, faculty, or IT staff can figure out how to get the Mediawiki software running reliably and install a downloaded database.  Lazyquasar 05:50, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

Should

 * A group effort to learn. Which may or may not, be lead by an instructor (who, again, may or may not be an expert on the topic).
 * A collaboration to improve other wikis. When students finish a course, it should be used as motivation for them to improve Wikipedia articles and write Wikibooks on the topic (i intend to incorporate these activities as assignments).  This way there is no rivalry between the wiki projects.
 * Using outside sources. One of the biggest challenges now facing Wikipedia is citations.  With Wikiversity classes, outside sources will be a primary aspect of the learning process.  These sources can then be used to make Wikipedia articles more credible.

Should Not

 * A resource for learning about a topic. That's what Wikibooks is for.  The essential difference has to be that in Wikiversity classes you must participate as the class is ongoing.  If you want to learn about a topic ex-post-facto you are better off visiting Wikibooks.
 * An alternative to real universities. The Wikiversity would essentially be a half-way point between self-teaching and learning at a university.  There is discussion between students and professors, and students and students, but this does not mean that it carries the same weight as learning from instructors who have spent most of their lives researching a topic and have approval from heavily funded universities.  Wikiversity is about learning for learning's sake, not for advancing your career.  --<IP_ADDRESS> 21:16, 10 December 2005 (UTC)

 * I copied a modified version of this into Wikiversity/Modified project proposal. --Kernigh 19:33, 20 December 2005 (UTC)

 * The two above should nots are pretty silly. In the terminology of U.S. government contracting how shall we go about converting these should nots into enforceable "shall not" requirements? user:lazyquasar

A Gaping Problem Remains
The section regarding what "Wikiversity is not" as currently written is a major obstacle to success of the Wikiversity. No sane instructor, mentor, project team, or learning community is going to rely indefinitely on external materials subject to revision or deletion without notice and with no effective appeal or recourse beyond "Eddie says Jimmy said...". The potential for frustration and rework is staggering. This paragraph reduces Wikiversity in one fell swoop from potentially a useful reliable training environment of improving resources to merely an open directory of web links. Notice that the various "open" directories projects around the web have mostly faltered and fallen into disuse as they become pages of inaccurate unmaintained lists of links to static or dead web pages. Further, this insistence on dependence on externally controlled material and communities violates the very principle of Wiki. Local rapid revision by interested participants at whim. No longer is it edit boldly and find out. Now it is go join an external clique and figure out how to influence them sufficiently to help keep improvements sticky within your learning community's materials.

Personally I am not going to learn the local rules, etiquette and undocumented influence networks of five, fifty or five hundred different projects/online communities (all subject to arbitrary Jimmy flash overrides or stacked Board inaction) to put a multimedia lesson plan reliably in place. If I am somewhat unique in this regard, then this is possibly not a problem for the proposal as it is currently written. If it turns out that many resourceful people like to have some local control/reliabe access of the initial/current version of their materials (while acknowledging freely that other projects may do as they please as long as they meet attribution requirements of copied and tailored material) then this section will need to be rewritten entirely. Of course once the stacked Board has approved the proposal such a rewrite could take thousands of committees and millions of wikimedians centuries to develop Board discernable consensus on what it is that Wikiversity participants really cannot do for the convenience of others projects and self interests.

Take for example a free engineering project attempting to use Wikiversity to convey basic engineering skills and practices to newcomers who wish to join various projects. If in order to know that reliable accurate checked materials are available for specific lesson plans the free engineering communities must host the materials themselves then why would they bother with Wikiversity? Some advocates for existing Wikimedia projects would like to force Wikiversity participants to come participate at their projects. This ignores that it is not feasible to force internet volunteers to do anything. If those projects cannot make their case to the public on their own and appear attractive to potential clients and volunteer work forces then they are doomed anyway. We should not be designing Wikiversity to be doomed along with them. Likewise we should not advocate that Wikipedia be forced to put all its newcomer training materials exclusively at Wikiversity. The alleged gains in efficiency from nonduplication of efforts is simply overwhelmed by the risks inherent in dominoe architecture. What point in placing Wikipedia and the potential long term return to the species on the time invested there at risk by mandating that it depend on a risky new venture like Wikiversity for its local success?

I wonder how many projects would currently reside at Sourceforge if every Nth project was constrained to original chunks of work (N - N - 1) with links or pointers to N-1 chunks of work to be handed over for critical review to preexisting marginal projects eager to force participation in their own little pond? I suspect many fewer.

How many brick and mortar learning institutions constrain their instructors and students to exclusively using other groups notes and resources rather than creating/publishing their own to augment their unique learning experience? Lazyquasar 22:15, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

reactivating
might it be useful to change this from historical to active? do we ever want to stop moving Wikiversity forward? Perhaps there are other good reasons to keep it historical... or fork it... --Remi 09:31, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

 * The edit history is really what tells me it is historical. It is almost solely a discussion from August 2006. I suggest: archive and start from a blank page, or fork. Cormaggio's recent initiative suits the times more. --McCormack 09:39, 14 February 2008 (UTC)


text:
W-League transfers for 2017–18 season

This is a list of Australian soccer transfers for the 2017–18 W-League. Only moves featuring at least one W-League club are listed.

Transfers
All players without a flag are Australian. Clubs without a flag are clubs participating in the W-League.

source: wikimedia

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: W-League transfers for 2017–18 season


text:
Talk:Shadow of Rome

Article must be deleted
There's already a Shadow Of Rome article, with much more information. This article is thus, not needed.--DethFromAbove 19:26, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

title: Talk:Shadow of Rome


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Ashu

The result was speedy keep. Nominated by a confirmed blocked sockpuppet with no other deletion proposals. (non-admin closure) Atlantic306 (talk) 22:53, 27 September 2019 (UTC)

Ashu

 * – ( View AfD View log  Stats )

very poor WP:RS lacks wp:gng, cited links are either the dead links or self published website Worldnpeace (talk) 20:59, 21 September 2019 (UTC) Striking confirmed blocked sockpuppet, Atlantic306 (talk) 22:52, 27 September 2019 (UTC)
 * Note: This discussion has been included in the list of Bands and musicians-related deletion discussions. Worldnpeace (talk) 20:59, 21 September 2019 (UTC)

 * Begs the question whether winning awards makes notability in a field. Would have to depend on the award, but it would need to be sourced somewhere other than the person's own website, or that of the award-giver. Hyperbolick (talk) 22:34, 21 September 2019 (UTC)
 * The claimed facts in the article probably support notability. However, if the claimed facts were true, it is hard to believe that we could not achieve WP:GNG.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 04:24, 26 September 2019 (UTC)
 * I wonder if the mononym is preventing discovery of content.-TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 04:26, 26 September 2019 (UTC)

title: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Ashu


text:
Charles Frederic August Schaeffer

Charles Frederic August Schaeffer (12 June 1860 – 29 August 1934) was an American entomologist who specialized in beetles, particularly chrysomelids and weevils. He described 109 species in 91 genera and some species like Taphrocerus schaefferi Nicolay & Weiss were described from his collections and named after him.

Schaeffer was born in London to Karl August Wilhelm Ferdinand Schäffer, a native of Prussia, and Charlotte Ernestine Dorette Koch of Hannover. When the family returned to Germany, he was educated there and became interested in insects at a very young age. He immigrated to the United States in 1886 and became a U.S. citizen in 1898.

He was one of the founding members of the Brooklyn Entomological Society in 1892. He was an active member of the group and in 1898, he became an assistant to William Beutenmuller of the American Museum of Natural History, becoming a curator in 1902 at the Brooklyn Museum Institute of Arts and Sciences. He made numerous collecting trips mainly in Mount Mitchell, North Carolina; Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas (Esperanza Ranch east of Brownsville); and the Huachuca Mountains of Arizona. He described numerous species in his publications.

Schaefers's publications include:

title: Charles Frederic August Schaeffer


text:
Talk:Beatrice Medicine

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 7 September 2018 and 28 December 2018. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): INWOMCREATIVES. Peer reviewers: SnowSwan1.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 17:54, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

J
Jhhh — Preceding unsigned comment added by <IP_ADDRESS> (talk) 08:00, 18 August 2015 (UTC)

Note to student editors
Work from the established versions, not from scratch in your sandbox, in order to maintain appropriate wikilinks. A number of the wikilinks that have been dropped in are not the right ones, such as the Native naming controversy link substituted for the language link for a person's traditional name. Also watch out for WP:Copyvio issues. There are a few I'm spotting, and a text comparison showed this as borderline on needing reversion. Blatant copyvios and too many inappropriate links will result in reversions of edits, which is generally frustrating for new editors who've spent a lot of time in their sandboxes. I suggest putting the extant version of articles in your sandbox - using the raw code, not visual editor text - that way you won't have to be guessing at what wikilinks to add. All of this will make it more likely your edits will stay up. - CorbieV  ☊ ☼ 22:20, 22 December 2018 (UTC)

title: Talk:Beatrice Medicine


text:
affabulation

Noun

 * 1)  The moral of a fable.

Etymology
..

Noun

 * 1) the moral of a fable, tale, story, etc.
 * 2)  fantasy, invention

title: affabulation


text:
Learning the vi Editor/Basic tasks

Now that we know how to invoke the editor and quit it, we can get acquainted with how to use the editor.

Alternatively, you can use the ViM tutor which comes with many modern vim distributions. It contains, essentially the same information as the text below. You can invoke the tutor by entering vimtutor at your shell.

Vi is a modal editor
The vi editor can do two things:
 * accept a command, such as deleting a line
 * accept text, written by you

In the vi editor, each of these tasks is achieved by putting the editor into a particular mode of operation (normally just called a mode). When you wish to give vi a command, you enter command mode, and when you want to enter text, you enter insert mode. We'll cover how to do this below.

It is important to set the correct mode before you begin writing, but this is simple to do. When you first start vi, it is automatically in command mode.

Entering text
Entering text is the most basic task an editor can do! From command mode (in which the editor starts), press  to enter insert mode, and you can begin typing. You can use the backspace key to correct mistakes you make. If you make a mistake after a few sentences, leave these errors for now, we will look at correcting them later. To leave insert mode once you're done typing, and return to command mode, press the Escape key on your keyboard (or type Control-[).

Exercise
Let's have an exercise:

 * 1) Start the editor.
 * 2) Enter insert mode.
 * 3) Type some text
 * 4) Return to command mode.
 * 5) Quit the editor.

Solution

 * 1) We can start the editor as in the previous section.
 * 2) Since the editor starts in command mode, we must press the  key before we can start typing.
 * 3) You can make some text up yourself!
 * 4) Press the  key.
 * 5) If you want to quit the editor, you need to be in command mode. Since pressing Escape puts you in command mode, you can just use the method in the previous section to exit: type

Command mode
Command mode allows you to perform many useful tasks within vi.

Moving around
Say you have been writing for some time, and have forgotten something. Pressing, erasing previous work is not the best solution! We would like to move around the document freely, moving the cursor.

Exercise
You can repeat this exercise with your own sentences. Make sure you are proficient doing this before you continue.

 * 1) Start the editor.
 * 2) Enter the text: "The quick fox jumps over the dog"
 * 3) Insert the word "brown" between "quick" and "fox".
 * 4) Insert the word "lazy" between "the" and "dog".
 * 5) Quit the editor.

Solution

 * 1) Use the method in the previous section.
 * 2) Press, then enter   normally.
 * 3) Press, then press  until the cursor is at the letter "f" of "fox". Press , and then type "brown ".
 * 4) Press, then press  until the cursor is at the letter "d". Press , and then type "lazy ".
 * 5) Press  again, then type.

More on movement
Using,  ,  , and   is ok, but vi understands more than rows and columns. These are some commands that move by text objects:
 * moves forward to the beginning of the next word.
 * moves backwards to the beginning of the previous word.
 * and  move by sentences, either backward or forward.
 * and  move by paragraphs.

Deleting things
If you have made a mistake after a few lines, for instance, pressing Backspace until you have erased the mistake and starting again isn't always the best solution. We need a method of deleting mistakes that happen in the normal course of editing.

vi allows you several methods of deleting text, based on how much you want to remove. Now that you are familiar with moving around, once you've moved the cursor to where your error is:
 * the  key deletes one character
 * pressing  deletes one word.
 * pressing  deletes one line

Exercise
From now on, we will omit the steps for you to start and quit the editor – you should be already familiar with those.

 * 1) Enter the following text:
 * 2) Change the word "Sad" to "Had".
 * 3) Add an apostrophe after "wouldn".
 * 4) Delete the extra "ever".
 * 5) Delete the line.

Solution

 * 1) Type the text normally. (You should already be familiar with entering insert mode and leaving it.)
 * 2) Enter command mode, use   to move to the start of the line, and then press   to delete the "S". Press   to enter insert mode, insert the "H", then leave insert mode by pressing Escape.
 * 3) Now position the cursor on the t, and press   to enter insert mode, type the " ' ". Leave insert mode by pressing escape.
 * 4) Position the cursor over the first "e" in the word "ever" (choose whichever one you like). Type   to delete the word.
 * 5) Type   to remove the entire line.

title: Learning the vi Editor/Basic tasks


text:
User:Harsh sabade

Gadhulacha paani

Gadhulacha paani is a type of holy water. It is pronounced as ga-dhu-la-cha-paa-ne. It was originated in Maharashtra in India. Scientists still haven't found the chemical composition of it. It can only be obtained by mixing old gadhulacha paani in new pure water. Till date, it has not been found that how was the first gadhulacha paani made.

title: User:Harsh sabade


text:
File:Actor Thomas G. Lingham, center, in The Red Glove, 1919.png

Summary
Image copied from digital copy of Motion Picture News (February 15, 1919, page 1016) freely available on Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/motionpicturenew19moti_3/page/1016
 * Other information:


text:
User:Thomas.Macias/sandbox/Purple Rose Theatre Company

= Purple Rose Theatre Company =

The Purple Rose Theatre Company is a Michigan not-for-profit theatre company founded in 1991 by Jeff Daniels in an old pizza parlor/garage in Chelsea. Its name comes from the Purple Rose of Cairo, a 1985 film Daniels starred in, earning him his first Golden Globe Nomination.

History
In the early 1900′s, Jeff Daniels’ grandfather owned the building that would one day become the Purple Rose as a car and bus garage. Other business in the same building included a gas station, pizza parlor, and vegetable stand. In 1989, the building was renovated by Daniels to be donated to the Purple Rose.

The building is in the historic district of downtown Chelsea. The lobby features 1930′s décor – including marbled glass chandeliers and an art deco box office. In 2018, the lobby (including its bathrooms) was renovated including updated carpeting, new bathrooms, and white walls with purple accents.

The Purple Rose produces 4 shows a year. In 2017, the Purple Rose produced its 100th production with the revival of Vino Veritas by Michigan Playwright David MacGregor.

Performance Space
In 1999, a capital campaign worth $2.2 million was launched with the aim to expand the building including the stage, lobby, and administrative spaces. During renovations, the building closed for a year and a half to reopen in January, 2001. The mortgage for the building was paid off in March, 2004.

The renovated stage space is a ¾ thrust with 168 seats with each seat five rows back or less.

In 2017, a two-phase roof renovation project was completed that raised the roof in the backstage area to accommodate more ceiling space above the stage - approximately 1,000 Square Feet. The project was completed with the help of the Michigan Council for the Arts & Cultural Affairs.

Notable Artists
Guy Sanville has been Artistic Director for nearly 25 years. In those 25 years, Sanville has directed over 60 productions, and performed in 12 - including The Tropical Pickle, A Stone Carver and The Odd Couple as Oscar.

Five actors have performed over 1,000 times on the Purple Rose stage: Wayne David “Daba” Parker, Tom Whalen, Rhiannon Ragland, Jim Porterfield, and Michelle Mountain – who has over 2,000 performances.

Three Stage Managers have worked over 1,000 performances at the Purple Rose: Amy (Hickman) Klain, Steph (Buck) Ogden, and Thomas Macias.

Danna Segrest has worked on over 100 productions at the Purple Rose, the vast majority as props designer.

Gary Ciarkowski has worked at the theatre for over 20 years as the Master Electrician & Technical Director. He has also designed sets for 5 productions including Diva Royale and 2AZ.

Dana White has worked on over 50 productions at the Purple Rose, the vast majority as lighting designer. In 2015, White was awarded a Roy Bowen Lifetime Achievement Award from The Central Ohio Theatre Critics Circle.

Bart Bauer, one of the founding members of the theatre, has designed over 35 sets for the Purple Rose including the Sherlock Holmes world premieres and Annapurna.

Television stars and real-life brothers Matt & Brian Letscher both got both their acting and playwriting starts at the Purple Rose.

Carey Crim is a Michigan playwright with over 5 world-premieres produced at the Purple Rose. Crim, daughter of famed Detroit Broadcast Journalist Mort Crim, started at the Purple Rose as an actor. Most recently, she had her plays Morning After Grace and Never Not Once appear on the Purple Rose stage. Morning After Grace has since had runs at Royal Manitoba Theatre Company, Asolo Rep, and Shakespeare and Co.

David MacGregor is another Michigan Playwright with over 6 productions at the Purple Rose. MacGregor is in the process of creating a trilogy of plays about Sherlock Holmes. The first play involves Vincent Van Gogh and Oscar Wilde, and the second involves Aguste Escoffier and Prince Albert Edward.

Notable Productions
In 1995, Daniels wrote Escanaba in Da Moonlight about a hunting lodge in the Upper Peninsula (The U.P.) of Michigan. This was the first of three plays Daniels wrote about “Yoopers” (residents of the U.P.), the other two being Escanaba in Love in 2006, and Escanaba in 2009.

In 1997 the Purple Rose produced Hot l Baltimore written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Lanford Wilson. This production was the first play of Wilson’s performed at the Purple Rose, and one of only two plays directed by Jeff Daniels. Wilson eventually ended up writing Book of Days (1998) and Rain Dance (2000) for the theatre, his final two plays before he passed in 2011.

In 2017, the Purple Rose produced Willow Run, a play about Rosie the Riveters who worked at the Willow Run bomber plant in Ypsilanti, MI. On August 18th, nine original Rosies attended the performance.

Onstage & Unplugged
Starting in 2001, Daniels started performing a holiday concert titled “Onstage & Unplugged” where he sings and plays guitar for a limited engagement of shows as a fundraiser for the theatre. Jeff plays original music and sometimes is joined onstage by close musician friends such as Brad Phillips, the Ben Daniels Band, and Brian Vander Ark.

Critical Reception & Awards
In 1994, Detroit News named The Purple Rose “Theatre of the Year”.

In 1998, the American Theatre Critics Association awarded the “Best New Play” award to Book of Days by Lanford Wilson.

The Purple Rose has won three Edgerton Foundation New Play awards - for White Buffalo (2011), Gaps in the Fossil Record (2015), & Willow Run (2017). The award allows theaters to pay artists for a week of rehearsal and workshops.

In February 2013, the Chelsea Area Chamber of Commerce awarded the Purple Rose with the Large Business Leadership Award.

In September of 2016, during their 25thanniversary fundraiser, The Senior Senator from Michigan, Debbie Stabenow, presented a commendation to the Purple Rose, applauding its cultural and economic impact in South East Michigan.

Apprenticeship Program
The Purple Rose offers a year-long apprenticeship program for young artists entering a career in theatre. Apprentices are paid a modest stipend and work as many as 80 hours per week gaining experience in lighting, sound, stage management, design, set construction, and administrative/box office work. The seven apprentices also maintain and clean the theatre's facilities. The program was inspired by Daniels' experience as an apprentice with the Circle Repertory Company in New York City.

Former Apprentices currently working at the Purple Rose include Katie Hubbard (Managing Director), Amy Klain (Company Manager), Julia Garlotte (Box Office Manager), Thomas Macias (Stage Manager), & Devin Faught (Stage Manager).

Films
In 2001, Purple Rose Films produced “Escanaba in da Moonlight”, based on the play of the same name written by Jeff Daniels. The film includes nine actors associated with the Purple Rose Theatre, including Jim Porterfield and Wayne David “Daba” Parker, who played Alphonse & Da Jimmer respectively in the play and the film.

In 2002, Purple Rose Films produced an original movie entitled “Super Sucker”, a story about vacuum cleaner salesmen. The film was shot entirely in Jackson, Michigan. 11 actors in the film were associated with the Purple Rose Theatre including Jeff Daniels, Matt Letscher, Guy Sanville, and Michelle Mountain.

In 2013, Blue Frog Productions produced “Vino Veritas”, based on the play of the same name written by David MacGregor. The film was shot in Lincoln, Nebraska.

In 2017, Mirrorcore Productions produced “Wake”, based on the play of the same name written by Carey Crim. The film was shot in California.

In 2017, Grand River Productions produced “Guest Artist”, based on the play of the same name written by Jeff Daniels. The film is almost entirely cast with actors from the Purple Rose including Jeff Daniels, Richard McWilliams (Harvey as Elwood P. Dowd & All My Sons as Joe Keller) and Thomas Macias, who started at the Purple Rose as an apprentice in 2013. The film was directed by Timothy Busfield and was shot on location in New York City, New York and Chelsea, Michigan.

Television
In October 2015, Purple Rose: 25 Years premiered on Detroit Public Television. This documentary, produced by 2188, features the story of the Purple Rose with stories and interviews from some of the artists associated with the theatre.

In October 2017, the Purple Rose was featured along with Cornelia Sampson and the Guadalupe Arts and Culture Center in an episode of Detroit Performs.


text:
IBM PC

Noun

 * 1) The original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform.
 * 2)  A microcomputer compatible with IBM's specification.

title: IBM PC


text:
Music Theory I

Introduction
This is the first Music Theory course. It provides an introduction to basic music theory, pitches, pitch collections (scales), key signatures, rhythmic meters, and modes. You should already know music fundamentals such as clefs, staves, accidentals, dynamics, and rhythmic values.

For more fundamental musical theory, see Introduction to Music or Fundamentals of Music.

What is music?
The definition of music itself is elusive. We want to be general enough to include a wide range of styles and cultures and approaches, yet not so wide that the term "music" can mean anything, and therefore, nothing. Here are some attempts:

 * Music is a series of tones
 * Music is sound organized by humans
 * Music is an art-and-science
 * Music is an abstract communication language
 * Music is an emotional expression of the soul
 * Music is made up of the elements of melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, texture, dynamics, and form
 * Music is the created order of nature
 * Music is culturally-defined psychological expression in sound
 * Music is love

All of these definitions have merit and truth. For now, let us define music as an art form expressed through the medium of sound, organized aurally (what we hear) and rhythmically (when we hear it).

What is music theory?
When we say music theory, we usually aren't talking about a universal system of understanding music. Rather, we are focusing specifically on Western Tonal Harmonic music, or "common practice" music. This type of music was developed from 1650 to 1900 in Western Europe. We consider it "common practice" not because it is the only good sounding music, but because it was a widely accepted system of analyzing music for three hundred years and is the foundation for much classical, pop, rock, and some aspects of blues and jazz music.

Let us define this type of music theory a little further. Music theory is merely a system of describing, notating, communicating, and analyzing music. It is not a "theory" like the theory of relativity, but rather a framework for understanding many types of music. It does not describe how music should work or what makes music work, but is simply a method by which composers, musicians, educators and anyone else can communicate and understand Western Tonal music.

While there are certain advanced elements to music theory (such as tuning and the overtone series) which have a "universal" application due to being based on the physics of vibration, the more common elements of music theory that are taught in universities today are these aspects of Western Tonal Harmony. The music theory we discuss here would not be particularly suited to talking about Indonesian Gamelan music or very modern classical pieces, both of which would require a different method of music theory analysis.

Pitch
All music is based on sound and when we refer to a specific tone we are referring to a pitch. Every key on a piano plays a different pitch. In traditional western music, we focus on twelve pitches to make music. They are as follows: C, C♯/D♭, D, D♯/E♭, E, F, F♯/G♭, G, G♯/A♭, A, A♯/B♭, and B

It may be helpful to picture a piano keyboard:

If you've seen a piano before, you'll notice that after we get to B, the whole thing just starts over again. Normally, there are eight C-keys on a piano. Each of those keys plays the same sound (in this case, the tone C) but higher or lower depending on the key. Therefore, we would say that the eight C-keys on a piano are the same pitch class but different pitches.

If you consult our pitches above, it may appear that seventeen notes have been listed, but this list actually only contains twelve notes. The notes with a slash between them are enharmonic, meaning that they represent the same pitch with two different names. For example, C♯ (C sharp) and D♭ (D flat) are actually the same. To see this, these notes both get played by the same black key on a piano.

The sharp and flat symbols should be familiar to you by now, but let us have a quick review. A sharp is one pitch higher than the note it is attached to. For instance F♯ (F sharp) is one pitch higher than F. Inversely, a flat is one pitch lower than the note it is attached to. Thus, E♭ (E flat) is one pitch lower than E. You might be tempted to think that any sharp or flat is the same thing as a black key on the piano, but this is not so. For instance, E♯ is enharmonic with F and C♭ is enharmonic with B.

While they are not quite as common, there is also a double sharp (x) and a double flat (♭♭). These symbols only mean that the tone is two pitches higher or lower than the note they are attached to. For example, A♭♭ would be enharmonic with G and Dx would be enharmonic with E.

The majority of Western music has emerged from the twelve pitch classes listed above. Just about every Western scale and chord (and a great many non-Western scales and chords) are founded from these notes.

The octave
As was briefly mentioned above, all the C-keys on a piano are in the same pitch class, but are different pitches. If you remember, we also said that after we list the twelve pitches, we start over. For example... C, C♯/D♭, D, D♯/E♭, E, F, F♯/G♭, G, G♯/A♭, A, A♯/B♭, B, C, C♯/D♭, D, D♯/E♭, E, F ...and so on and so on. If you look at any pitch "C", what is twelve pitches above it? Another C. What is twelve pitches above that? Yet another C. This distance (of twelve pitches) is called an octave.

Another way to think of it would be that an octave is the distance between two consecutive pitches in any pitch class. So if our pitch class is "C" we might have the following pitches: C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C7. The distance between C3 and C4 is one octave. The distance between C2 and C5 is three octaves.

Basic intervals
The octave is a way of measuring musical distance. The distance between any two notes is called an interval. There are twelve basic intervals (corresponding with the twelve pitches) but there are two that particularly important: the half step (or semitone) and whole step (or whole tone). A half step is the distance between two consecutive pitches. For instance, the distance between G and A♭, or F and F♯, or B and C. You could think about a piano; the distance between any key to the keys immediately next to it is one half step. A whole step is two half steps. So the distance between D and E, or A♭ and B♭, or E♭ and F is one whole step.

These intervals are listed in order, beginning at the Unison and progressing up to the octave:

The naming conventions come from the following set of rules, which you don't need to learn, but are useful to know about at least.

 * The unison, fourth, fifth, and octave are perfect. The term perfect doesn't mean that the notes are superior, but comes from the very clear, resolute, final, "perfect" sound they have.
 * The m3, M3, m6, and M6 are considered consonant intervals because they produce a fairly pleasant, stable sound, although not as stable as the perfect intervals.
 * The m2, M2, m7, and M7 are considered dissonant intervals because they produce a fairly tension-filled sound that needs to resolve.
 * A minor interval is smaller than its major counterpart by a semitone. Conversely, a major interval is larger than its minor counterpart by a semitone.
 * An augmented interval is larger than its perfect/major counterpart by a semitone.
 * A diminished interval is smaller than its perfect/minor counterpart by a semitone.

Although they weren't listed above, there are more intervals. For instance, as stated above, a diminished interval is smaller than its perfect/minor counterpart by one half step. Therefore, a diminished fourth would be a perfect fourth (5 half steps) minus one half step, ending up with four half steps. You may notice that this is identical to the distance of a major third. The difference between the two is how we would write the interval on the page, but there would be no aural difference. Take care to note that you cannot have a minor fifth or a major fourth, for such terms are impossible. If you were to increase the distance in your perfect fifth, you would have an augmented fifth, and so on.

We can name these intervals in a universal way, consisting of the following:

[Modifying Symbol][Number]

where the modifying symbol denotes perfect (P), major (M), minor (m), augmented (+), or diminished (°), and the number corresponds to the name of the interval - so 2 for second, 6 for sixth, etc.

Let us talk briefly about enharmonics, for when it comes to intervals they do make a difference. If you started with C and wanted a minor sixth, you would go up eight half steps until you got to G♯/A♭, however you wouldn't use the note G♯. The distance between C and G♯ is an augmented fifth. If you wanted a minor sixth, you would say C to A♭. The difference here is, again, written but not aural. There is no discernible change from an augmented fifth or a minor sixth, but for our analytical purposes, it is a very important distinction.

Compound intervals
There is a system of naming notes past the octave, used commonly in jazz but also to an extent in modern classical and pop music, called compound intervals. These are essentially the same as the basic intervals, but expanded by an octave (12 semitones remember). Our naming and notational conventions carry over, but we add seven to the note number.

For example, a minor sixth (8 semitones) goes up an octave to become a minor thirteenth (now 20 semitones). Where we notate it before at m6, we now notate with m13.

Again, this system is used mostly in jazz. For now, as we study Western Tonal Harmony, we will use our basic intervals. If you were to see a minor thirteenth in a piece of music, we would simplify and call it a minor sixth.

Introduction to meter
As you listen to most music, you will notice a discernible beat, or a primary pulse. In common practice music, we can either divide this beat into two parts (and multiples of two, such as four), which we call simple meters, or we can divide it into three parts (and multiples of three, such as six), which we call compound meter. When we say we can divide the beat into two or three, all we are saying is that it is easiest to divide the beat into this number. We could arbitrarily divide the beat into five or seven, but almost all music naturally divides into two or three.

Notice all that we have been talking about is how the beats divide. But beats can also be grouped into larger sections. We could place beats into groups of two (which we call duple), three (which we call triple), or four (which we call quadruple). We could place the beats into as large a group as we want, but for now let us stay with duple/triple/quadruple as they are the most common. These groupings of beats are called measures or bars and are shown on sheet music with thin lines to divide the measures.

Thus, we could have a piece of music with a simple triple meter. Refer to the terms above. A simple triple meter would be one in which we could put the beats into groups of three and the beats themselves divide easily into two parts. The familiar song "Amazing Grace" is in simple triple meter. Take a look at the chart below:

No doubt you have heard the terms rhythm and meter by now, perhaps interchangeably, however let us separate the two words: rhythm refers to the length of a pitch in a piece while meter is the framework of strong and weak beats in which rhythm is placed.

Meter signatures
A meter signature or a time signature is located at the beginning of a piece and sets the meter type (Simple/Compound and Duple/Triple/Quadruple) and the beat unit. The beat unit is the note length which gets one beat. A time signature is set up like this: [Beats per Measure] [Beat Unit]

The top number will tell us what the meter type is while the bottom number will tell us the beat unit. If the upper number is 2, 3, or 4, it will usually mean that the meter is simple duple, simple triple, or simple quadruple respectively. If the upper number is 6, 9, or 12, the meter will likely be compound duple, compound triple, or compound quadruple. The lower number indicates the following: 2 = half note, 4 = quarter note, 8 = eighth note, 16 = sixteenth note. You can reference this chart for easier understanding:

Pitch collections
The traditional Western music that we are studying does not usually use all twelve of our pitch classes. Instead, we have discovered that it is aurally pleasing to use only some of the twelve pitch classes at any given time. We call this a pitch-class collection. If we were to select all twelve of the pitch classes we would have a chromatic collection. A chromatic scale is one in which all of the pitch classes are played. However, we normally use a diatonic collection ("diatonic" with the root of "tonic", referring to the tones) of seven pitch classes. These diatonic collections usually take the form of the major and minor scales.

Major scale
No doubt you have heard of the major scale before. As we have said above, the major scale is a diatonic pitch-class collection. The major scale employs seven of the twelve pitch classes and is composed of the unison (P1), the major second (M2), the major third (M3), the perfect fourth (P4), the perfect fifth (P5), the major sixth (M6), and the major seventh (M7) before repeating again. This particular selection of pitches is what gives the major scale its distinct sound and what differentiates it from other pitch-class collections (such as the minor scale).

As an example, if we choose C to be the root (the starting point of a pitch-class collection), the Major scale would be:

C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C, etc.

Note that we repeat the C at the top of the scale. So we use eight notes but only seven pitches (because the C is repeated).

Another way to describe the Major scale is to describe the steps between each note of the scale. We know that the distance between each neighboring pitch is one half step. If we use "H" to name a half step and "W" to name a whole step, the Major scale can be described as WWHWWWH.

One creates a Major scale by first choosing a certain pitch as the root, or starting point. Because it started on "C", the C Major scale was shown above has a "C" root. Other major scales can be created by starting on other notes and then by following the pattern of WWHWWWH from that root. Any of the twelve pitches may be the basis for the major scale.

Some major scales are redundant in the sense that they sound the same as their enharmonic counterparts (e.g. G♭-major sounds the same as F♯-major). Some redundancies are more common while others are not. Generally, if one has to go beyond the use of single sharps or flats, then one has created a redundant scale which can be more simply expressed (e.g. G♭♭-major: G♭♭, A♭♭, B♭♭, C♭♭, D♭♭, E♭♭, F♭, G♭♭ is incredibly redundant compared to F-major: F, G, A, B♭, C, D, E, F).

Minor scale
The minor scale is another diatonic pitch-class collection. Like the major scale, the minor scale employs only seven notes from the twelve available pitches. There are many types of minor scales but for our purposes, we are going to focus on three. The Natural Minor scale, the Harmonic Minor scale, and the Melodic Minor scale.

The natural minor
This is the most common form of the minor scale, and can be represented by the pattern WHWWHWW. A common way to create a natural minor scale is to take a major scale a lower scale degree 3,6, and 7 by a semi-tone. The scale could also be thought of in terms of intervals and is composed of the unison (P1), the major second (M2), the minor third (m3), the perfect fourth (P4), the perfect fifth (P5), the minor sixth (m6), and the minor seventh (m7). Using "A" as our root, the scale would be as follows:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A

The harmonic minor
The Harmonic Minor scale is almost exactly the same as the Natural Minor scale with the exception of one pitch. A common way to create a harmonic minor scale is to take a major scale a lower scale degree 3, 6 by a semi-tone, leaving scale degree 7 as written in its parallel major. It can be represented as WHWWH(W+H)H. Note the large Whole+Half Step (3 semitone) in parenthesis. This augmented second interval between the sixth and seventh pitches is what distinguishes the Harmonic Minor scale and was created to add more tension and interest to the music incorporating it.

When A is the root, the scale runs:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G♯, A

The melodic minor
The Melodic Minor is very distinct from the previous scales discussed in that it has two forms, ascending and descending, which are used respectively according to rise and fall of the scale. The descending form of the scale is the same as the Natural Minor scale:

A, G, F, E, D, C, B, A

Note that the pitches are in reverse order because, obviously, we are descending downwards. The ascending form is a kind of combination between major and minor scales. It can be represented as WHWWWWH or:

A, B, C, D, E, F♯, G♯, A

Modes
Modes are another type of pitch-class collection. There are seven common modes and they are all diatonic. Let's build a major scale on "C":

C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C

We know that this is a major scale but it is also one of the seven modes, called Ionian. The Ionian Mode and a major scale are one and the same. Let us imagine the same seven pitches (C, D, E, F, G, A, B) but using instead the root of "D".

D, E, F, G, A, B, C, D

This is no major scale, nor is it any minor scale we have learned. It is, however, a mode, called Dorian. If we continue this pattern, using each of the seven pitches as our root, we will get all of our modes. If we use "E" as the root, the mode would be Phrygian. If we use "F", we would have Lydian Mode. If we use "G", we would have Mixolydian. If we use "A", we would have Aeolian Mode. Let us take a closer look at Aeolian Mode:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A

Look familiar? The Aeolian Mode and the Natural Minor scale are the same thing, just like the Ionian Mode and the major scale. Finally, if we used "B" as the root, we would get Locrian Mode.

Remember that even though we used only C, D, E, F, G, A, B in our example, a mode can be built on any pitch.

Key signatures
A key signature shows which pitch classes are to be consistently played sharp or flat throughout the piece. It is placed at the beginning of each line of a score. To help understand why key signatures are beneficial, look at this example:

Even though both images above are of the same music, the second version is much easier to read, analyze, and to play. The key signature, by placing the flat accidentals in a tidy formation, rather than having them dispersed across the page, makes the reading of them much easier.

We have eight sharp key signatures and eight flat key signatures. They look like the following:

You may have noticed that each time we add a sharp, we use the pitch a P5 higher. In other words, the order in which we add sharps is:

F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯, E♯, B♯

After this, another P5 about B♯ is F♯ again so, therefore, that is as many sharps as we can add. You also may have noticed that once we have B♯, all the pitches have the sharp accidental attached and it would be impossible to sharp any more pitches without using double sharps.

Each time we add a flat, we use the pitch a P5 lower. The order of flats is:

B♭, E♭, A♭, D♭, G♭, C♭, F♭

Similarly, after F♭, the next pitch would be B♭ again. Many students use a mnemonic to remember the order of sharps and flats. A very common mnemonic would be "Father Charles goes down and ends battle" (the order of sharps), or reversed, "Battle ends and down goes Charles' Father" (the order of flats). You are welcome to use whatever you like but the key signatures are something that should be memorized.

Some of the key signatures are enharmonic with each other: D♭ is enharmonic with C♯, G♭ with F♯, and C♭ with B. To better understand this, take a look at the circle of fifths, with shows each of the key signatures, which major or minor key it may represent, the number of sharps or flats it contains, and which keys are enharmonic.

You may be wondering how we can know what the major or minor key of the piece is from the key signature. Well, the key signature with three flats indicates a major or minor key with B♭, E♭, and A♭. The major key that has such flat notes is E♭ Major, and the minor key is C Minor. However, there are a few tricks that make it easier to determine the key without having to consult sheets of key signatures and major and minor scales.

 * 1) To determine the major key of a flat key signature, look at the next-to-last flat. The key signature with six flats is G♭ Major. Of course, this does not work with only one flat, but there is only one key signature with one flat: F Major.
 * 2) To determine the major key of a sharp key signature, look at the last sharp, then move up one half-step. For instance, the key signature with four sharps in E Major. Take care to note that if you move up one half-step but they key signature contains a sharp on that note, you must include the sharp. For instance the key signature with seven sharps is C♯ Major not C Major, which has no sharps.

Be careful that you do not assume that the key signature automatically determines the actual key of a piece. The key signature might have two flats, but this does not mean that the piece is in B♭ Major. It could be in G Minor, or C Dorian, or E♭ Lydian, or... etc. When determining the key of the piece, we must consider the key signature in combination with the pitch-class collection and the interactions of the intervals within the music.

title: Music Theory I


text:
Turkmenistan at the Deaflympics

Turkmenistan first competed at the Summer Deaflympics in 2001. The country also competed at the Summer Deaflympics in 2005, 2013 and 2017.

The country won its first and thus far only medal in 2013: Hojymyrat Azapov won the bronze medal in wrestling at the men's 66 kg event. In 2017, he competed both in freestyle and in Greco-Roman wrestling and he did not win a medal this time.

The country has not yet competed at the Winter Deaflympics.

title: Turkmenistan at the Deaflympics


text:
Partizanskoye, Altai Krai

Partizanskoye (Партизанское) is a rural locality (a selo) and the administrative center of Partizansky Selsoviet, Burlinsky District, Altai Krai, Russia. The population was 542 as of 2013. It was founded in 1968. There are 6 streets.

Geography
Partizanskoye is located 3 km southwest of Burla (the district's administrative centre) by road. Burla is the nearest rural locality.

title: Partizanskoye, Altai Krai


text:
Talk:Linan High School

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title: Talk:Linan High School


text:
Talk:Debbie Brill

Debbie could be the sole creator of the Brill bend/Fosbury Flop
After Dick forsbury death Diario Marca (spain´s main sport diary) published a series of articles based in his revolutionary style and the dimmensioon he have in the sport, and also they recovered an interview to him in a visit to Spain in 1973, where he made an exhibition, being asked about the tecnique discovery he said (translated from Spanish) "Was her (Debbie Brill) the first to jump like this in the world, or at least, the first we have news about it. My college´s trainer saw her and copy the style" ("Fue ella la primera que saltó así en el mundo, o, al menos, la primera de la que tengamos noticias. Mi entrenador del colegio fue quien la vio y copió el estilo")

I do not have access to the original publication but the link to the full article, can be found there. I didn not find any mentions to this anywhere, where it is stated that both jumpers (and their trainers) were developing their high jump style inedpendently

https://www.marca.com/atletismo/2023/03/14/641075f7268e3e82598b45ec.html <IP_ADDRESS> (talk) 16:28, 15 March 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Debbie Brill


text:
Spanish/Formation of the feminine in nouns

< ../Grammar Index

Natural gender nouns may belong to the following categories
 * Not inflected (de género común). One form is used for both genders, but the adjectives must agree with the natural gender. El artista chileno/la artista chilena; el testigo mentiroso/la testigo mentirosa.
 * Inflected. The feminine is formed from the masculine, normally adding a or replacing the last vowel by a: el niño/la niña.
 * Both inflected and non inflected: el presidente/la presidente/la presidenta. Some people have strong views as to whether the inflected or the not inflected form is sexist.

Regular inflection of the feminine.

If a word ends in a vowel, the feminine replaces that vowel by a: el cliente, la clienta. If a word ends in a consonant, the feminine adds an a: el profesor, la profesora.

When nouns are inflected

Nouns are inflected or not depending on the ending of the masculine-gender form.
 * o: inflected. El niño/la niña. Exceptions: el/la testigo, el ingeniero/la ingeniero/la ingeniera.
 * a: not inflected. El/la artista. El modisto is very anomalous. Probably the first male dressmakers invented that word so they wouldn't be confused with women. On the other hand, a male cheerleader is un porrista, not un *porristo. Another exception is el poeta/la poeta/la poetisa. Feminists prefer la poeta but la poetisa is very common.
 * e (except ante, ente): not inflected. El detective/la detective. There are many exceptions: el alcalde/la alcaldesa, el cliente/la cliente/la clienta.
 * ante: not inflected. El/la ayudante. However words in this category may have an old inflected form, which is not used anymore: la ayudanta, la estudianta.
 * ente. Prescriptive grammarians say that this words should not be inflected: el/la adolescente. However, there are many exceptions included in dictionaries: el presidente/la presidente/la presidenta, el gerente/la gerente/la gerenta.
 * Stressed vowel: not inflected. El/la gurú.
 * Consonant: inflected. El profesor/la profesora, el bailarín/la bailarina. Exceptions: el concejal/la concejal/la concejala, el juez/la juez/la jueza, el/la joven.

/Grammar


text:
Talk:Dave Hill (guitarist)

Untitled
Is he really a J.W. I remember seeing a program with him and his religion defantly wasnt J.W.  Any evidence on this? I know that when he was in slade he was interested but that is all. —Preceding unsigned comment added by <IP_ADDRESS> (talk) 11:48, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

Primary topic discussion
See the discussion here for a proposal to alter the name of this article to Dave Hill (guitarist). Abtract (talk) 20:18, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

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Requested move 22 April 2024

The result of the move request was: moved. Per consensus. – robertsky (talk) 02:56, 30 April 2024 (UTC)

– no clear WP:PRIMARYTOPIC per page views Joeykai (talk) 00:10, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Dave Hill → Dave Hill (guitarist)
 * Dave Hill (disambiguation) → Dave Hill

 * WikiNav for Dave Hill and for the disambiguation page indicate that the order of reader interests in page views also matches the order in the clickstreams, so it's reasonable to assume that if we disambiguate, the spread of traffic would probably be similar. That ratio should be somewhere around that 353 : 259 ratio for this month (so ~58% for the presumed primary topic), while historical data all-time mass views indicates a significant upswing for the comedian. Nominally, the ratios are not impressive, with 55 recorded clicks on the hatnote over a total incoming traffic of 9.9k and total outgoing of 1.6k (~0.5% / ~3.5%), but we already know that this is not necessarily determinative. Worst case, if we move, we will have clearer data to base a revert upon. --Joy (talk) 09:55, 22 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Support per nomination. There are 12 men listed upon the Dave Hill (disambiguation) page, putting aside the existence of 28 men upon the David Hill dab page, with little indication that the 78-year-old rock musician's renown has remained at such an elevated level that it dwarfs the combined notability of the remaining 11 men named "Dave Hill". —Roman Spinner (talk • contribs) 00:10, 24 April 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Dave Hill (guitarist)


text:
Python Programming/Exceptions

Python 2 handles all errors with exceptions.

An exception is a signal that an error or other unusual condition has occurred. There are a number of built-in exceptions, which indicate conditions like reading past the end of a file, or dividing by zero. You can also define your own exceptions.

Overview
Exceptions in Python at a glance:

Raising exceptions
Whenever your program attempts to do something erroneous or meaningless, Python raises exception to such conduct:

This traceback indicates that the  exception is being raised. This is a built-in exception -- see below for a list of all the other ones.

Catching exceptions
In order to handle errors, you can set up exception handling blocks in your code. The keywords  and   are used to catch exceptions. When an error occurs within the  block, Python looks for a matching   block to handle it. If there is one, execution jumps there.

If you execute this code: Then Python will print this:

You can't divide by zero!

If you don't specify an exception type on the  line, it will cheerfully catch all exceptions. This is generally a bad idea in production code, since it means your program will blissfully ignore unexpected errors as well as ones which the  block is actually prepared to handle.

Exceptions can propagate up the call stack:

In this code, the  statement calls the function. That function calls the function, which will raise an exception of type ValueError. Neither  nor   has a  /  block to handle ValueError. So the exception raised propagates out to the main code, where there is an exception-handling block waiting for it. This code prints:

That value was invalid.

Sometimes it is useful to find out exactly what went wrong, or to print the python error text yourself. For example:

Which will print:

Sorry, 'the_parrot' has apparently joined the choir invisible.

Custom Exceptions
Code similar to that seen above can be used to create custom exceptions and pass information along with them. This can be very useful when trying to debug complicated projects. Here is how that code would look; first creating the custom exception class:

And then using that exception:

Recovering and continuing with
Exceptions could lead to a situation where, after raising an exception, the code block where the exception occurred might not be revisited. In some cases this might leave external resources used by the program in an unknown state.

clause allows programmers to close such resources in case of an exception. Between 2.4 and 2.5 version of python there is change of syntax for  clause.

 * Python 2.4

 * Python 2.5

Built-in exception classes
All built-in Python exceptions

Exotic uses of exceptions
Exceptions are good for more than just error handling. If you have a complicated piece of code to choose which of several courses of action to take, it can be useful to use exceptions to jump out of the code as soon as the decision can be made. The Python-based mailing list software Mailman does this in deciding how a message should be handled. Using exceptions like this may seem like it's a sort of GOTO -- and indeed it is, but a limited one called an escape continuation. Continuations are a powerful functional-programming tool and it can be useful to learn them.

Just as a simple example of how exceptions make programming easier, say you want to add items to a list but you don't want to use "if" statements to initialize the list we could replace this: Using exceptions, we can emphasize the normal program flow—that usually we just extend the list—rather than emphasizing the unusual case:

title: Python Programming/Exceptions