[INDOLOGY] INDOLOGY Digest, Vol 12, Issue 39

Thu Jan 30 16:38:08 UTC 2014

The mostly unending dialogs in wiki are quite puzzling (see for example the
talk-page ‘hindouisme <http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discussion:Hindouisme>
’).

I have to recognize, having been for years insulted because I said i.e.
that it does *not* suffice to add an ‘s’ to build plural in Sanskrit or
because I dared to add the ‘scientific’ etymology of
guru<http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discussion:Guru_(ma%C3%AEtre_spirituel)#Etymologie>to
the nirukta etymology ‘dispelling darkness’, I lost my temper and was
blocked, having ‘implicitly’
insulted<https://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Discussion_utilisateur:Zhuangzi&diff=100021558&oldid=100021531>the
guy, having presented an *Original
Research* (my words: « La philosophie indienne est souvent décriée dans les
milieux scientifiques comme trop bigote et je trouve important de montrer
que ces préjugés ne sont pas fondés et que les indiens ne sont pas dénués
d’esprit critique »  “Indian philosophy is often slandered in scientific
world as too religious and I think it’s important to show that this
prejudice is ill-founded and not *every* Indian is devoid of critical
mind”) and having an ‘expert editor’ position (that’s bad and punishable!).

Elisa won’t be surprised that the guy was actually involved in
‘neutralizing’ the accusations against
Dieudonné<http://fr.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dieudonn%C3%A9&diff=next&oldid=99709645>
.

I think that if we don’t act/write against obscurantism, the next decades
could become a bit difficult.

Sincerely yours,

Fabrice Duvinage
10, rue Alfred Mézières
54000 Nancy
0652825128
http://fabriceduvinage.voila.net/

2014-01-30 <indology-request at list.indology.info>:

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> Today's Topics:
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>    1. Fwd:  fr.wikipedia and ohter non sa.wikipedia (Dominik Wujastyk)
>    2. fr.Wikipedia and other non sa.wikipedia (elisa freschi)
>    3. Re: fr.Wikipedia and other non sa.wikipedia (Jean-Luc Chevillard)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 11:01:13 +0100
> From: Dominik Wujastyk <wujastyk at gmail.com>
> To: Indology <indology at list.indology.info>
> Subject: [INDOLOGY] Fwd:  fr.wikipedia and ohter non sa.wikipedia
> Message-ID:
>         <
> CAKdt-CdAp0pXXOfzVja0gyFdjpkyeTK4ZAiEdbj0M1UuCL7ETQ at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> If there is a taboo, I break it all the time.  :-)
>
> I think Wikipedia is an amazing experiment.  It's got flaws, obviously, but
> overall I consider it one of the most exciting developments in global
> knowledge-sharing that's ever taken place.  Up there with Gutenberg,
> surely.  I have an Android phone, which now understands spoken questions,
> and often answers them from Wikipedia.  It's completely amazing to have an
> encyclopedia in one's pocket.  And the whole model of globalized
> collaborative writing is extraordinary, and new.
>
> I was at a lecture a couple of years ago when the speaker was criticizing
> something in one of the Wikpedia entries. I had a laptop, and before the
> lecture was even finished, I had updated the Wikipedia page to reflect the
> lecturer's corrections.  This kind of thing raises all sorts of interesting
> new questions about the nature of academic knowlege storage and
> transmission, what we trust, and how we manage our relationshop to our
> sources.  The history-tracking feature of Wikipedia is absolutely critical
> to its value.
>
> There are fights in Wikipedia, of course, over contentious issues.  But the
> system and the m
> ??
> anagers address this issue of conflict, and surprisingly often,
> ? things calm down after a while.
> I
> ?would?
> imagine there's quite a struggle going on right now at
> ?fr.?
> Wikipedia.
> ?org?
> about Devadatta (Dieudonn?).
> ? [I checked, and yes there is.]?
>
>
> An indological case in point is the Wikipedia account of the California
> textbook controversy over Hindu history
> dispute<
> https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=California_textbook_controversy_over_Hindu_history
> >that
> started in 2005.  If you click "View history" you'll see how much of a
> struggle there's been between factions.  It's been stable for quite a time
> now, and it's short, factual, and the emotional and aggressive language of
> the early versions has been purged and has stayed purged.  Numerous
> sockpuppets <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sockpuppet_%28Internet%29> were
> active in the early years, but they were eventually blocked by the
> Wikipedia managers.  I would say that the CTCHH dispute is an example of
> the Wikipedia system working rather well.  It took several years to work,
> and the angry middle period was unpleasant.  One has to be patient in such
> cases, and take the long view.
>
> Best,
> Dominik
>
>
> On 29 January 2014 17:41, Fabrice Duvinage <fabrice.duvinage at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > Is there any taboo about contributing to Wikipedia? Though I guess many
> > indologists are not against knowledge-sharing for free and improving the
> > general knowledge about India, I am the only indologist/sanskritist in
> the
> > fr.wikipedia and feel like hell about it  How is it in other wikis: en,
> de,
> > etc,?
> > Sincerely yours,
> > Fabrice Duvinage
> > 10, rue Alfred M?zi?res
> > 54000 Nancy
> > 0652825128
> > http://fabriceduvinage.voila.net/
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
> 

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