Using Wikipedia and Wikispecies

From Species-ID

Although Species-ID uses Wikipedia-like software, this is not meant to be a project intended to detract from Wikipedia. Your contributions to the many Wikipedias are most welcome. For example, you are encouraged to upload images directly to Wikimedia Commons - such images are immediately available in Species-ID. Similarly, for any purpose that fits well into the collaboration scheme of a Wikipedia project, using a Wikipedia directly is recommended. Furthermore, by using the same technology and license as Wikipedia, we desire to make it simple to reuse selected content in a Wikipedia project (with proper citation as required by the license).

However, Wikipedias have some limitations which are a necessary result of their open collaboration structure:

• Wikipedia must police adherence to its scope and to the criterion of general notability. While all species are by definition notable, specialized software, such as programs we are using for identification purposes, may be deleted as lacking notability.
• Wikipedia tries to improve its quality by requiring independently published source citations for its publication. It is therefore not possible to place original research information there.
• Most Wikipedias reject information that amount to "data" about a topic such as a species. Being an encyclopedia, data should be abstracted and summarized instead. While this is a good rule for an encyclopedia, it is not always a good rule for projects building up information about biodiversity.
• For the same same reason, it is impossible to add specimen-specific information in Wikipedias. In Species-ID, adding specimen descriptions either as a chapter on a species page or as separate pages is welcome.

TO BE REVISED AND EXTENDED....

Limitations of Wikispecies

Given the limitations of Wikipedia, a frequent assumption is that Wikispecies would fill this gap. It does not.

Wikispecies is an unusual wikimedia project that comes with a large number of limitations. The root of these is the desire to avoid any ambiguity which content belongs into the language-specific wikipedias and which into wikispecies (see Wikispecies Charter). Therefore content is restricted to the language neutral taxonomic hierarchy, a single image per species, and a vernacular names section (in many languages). Specifically, it is not possible to provide species descriptions or identification keys on wikispecies. To quote "What Wikispecies is not": "Wikispecies is not paragraphs of information about species. Blocks of prose are language-specific and would incorrectly lead to the impression that Wikispecies is a fork of Wikipedia."

The wikispecies identification plans a service for uploading and discussing images of unknown species - not support through descriptions, data, or identification keys.