Catholic Wikipedia

From a reader:

Yes, it does exist! It is called WikiKto. And the author stresses the capital K in the name because it is Catholic. (Um, I think something got lost in the English translation.) And I think this could be a really wonderful and worthy St Blog's Parish Joint Project! A real service to the world, folks!

***update: another combox commenter says there is another one:WikiCath.(I like this name MUCH better!) and he wonders if there is a way to merge the two. I bet there is! ****

And oh wow, talk about your "coincidental" timings! The website says it began on April 2, 2005, the day of the death of the pope John Paul II. I learned of it a year later to the day, when I was directed to it by John (who commented on my lament about how is it that the Roman Catholics don't have a cool Wikipedia type site like the Orthodox already do). It was first launched in the French language on May 13, 2005 and in English on September 8, 2005.

Just like WIKIPEDIA, this Catholic version can be edited by anyone. Concern about monitoring accuracy will follow the same order of Wikipedia, which uses Administrators who have the capability of blocking abusers' IP Addresses. More information about it can be found here.

This website really has a LOT of potential, as you can imagine. I can see, for instance, a future thoroughly-complete compilation of religious orders throughout the whole world. There is nothing completely comprehensive anywhere, I am told. This self-edit, self-contribute function could really speed up and help make something like that a reality. The list could then be further subcategorized into different types of order, Franciscan, Carmelite, Benedictine, etc; other subcategories could be countries located, missionary orders, main work of the order, or if it is mainly contemplative, what are the focus of their prayers, etc.

And there are so many topics to include! It could be amazing. It might be really good to incorporate the Catholic Encyclopedia into it, too, possibly. I can see this eventually linking up to the Wikipedia site itself, down the road one day. But there is a whole lot of work to be done.

So, come on, all you great Catholic writers and knowledgeable bloggers! Here is another great opportunity to make use of the gifts the Lord has given you! What do you all think?

Comments

[Chris S.]

Don't forget to update the articles about the Church on http://la.wikipedia.org (vikipaedia).

[Tim]

The problem with a Catholic Wikipedia is the implementation. Unless a wiki has a large number of regular editors, a wiki is often full of errors. Add to that the greater requirement for care in defining Truth and you can see the likely problems.

The only way I can see a Catholic Wikipedia working is if a number of highly-qualified and faithful theologians screened every entry that was submitted to it. Otherwise, I think they'll end up with theological soup.

[Jeff Milelr]

Hey I was there first with the WIkiCatechism.

http://www.splendoroftruth.com/curtjester/wikicatechism.htm

[Bill White]

Just last week I was thinking of a wiki for info on each liturgical day, like Pius Parsch's The Church's Year of Grace, but with much more detail for each day.

[felisberto]

it is a great idea.im behind it.fully support of this project.

[Kevin Jones]

Any idea who is running these things? Kevin Knight of NewAdvent.org once told me he was thinking about setting up such a wiki.

Also, the Orthodox have the OrthodoxWiki

[Kevin Knight]

This is a great thread.

As a matter of fact, I am planning to add a wiki to New Advent (built on MediaWiki software), but I've been spinning my wheels on a few points. Such as:

How would we prevent vandalism?

Should the old Catholic Encyclopedia itself be wikified, and if so, how do we preserve the integrity of the original -- or at least keep the original version as an option for those who want it?

If I do build it on the old CE, can I block edits to some articles ("Holy Eucharist"), while allowing updates to others ("Prussian Buggy Whips")?

Could we use the wiki to mass-transcribe old books and other materials?

These are just a few considerations. If anyone has any suggestions on where to go from here, I'm all ears.

[Gregg the obscure]

Great idea to add a wiki of Catholic Encyclopedia!

This page gives some pointers on requiring user registration for modifications, locking articles and even requiring moderator approval before publishing changes.

If I may, I'd suggest that the wiki would best supplement, rather than supplant, the old CE text. The old text is a great historical reference.

[thomasina]

I definitely think you should keep the old CE intact. It's such a unique resource and Wikifying it would ruin it IMO. The original Wikipedia seems to be improving, but the idea of a Catholic Wiki as ambitious as Wikipedia makes me nervous because of all the errors even well-meaning people will post about something as important as Catholic doctrine. Things can't be counted on to be instantly corrected. There is probably a significant population of Web users who would not take the Wiki info for what it's worth and why bother posting things in encylopedia format on the Web just to say "It's their problem if they don't do their own research?"

[Lisa-Ann]

Kevin (any anyone else interested in old books online) -

Project Gutenberg (www.gutenberg.org) has over 17,000 free ebooks, and more coming all the time. These are all either in the public domain (before 1923 I think) or ones where the author has given Project Gutenberg permission to post them. In a nutshell, volunteers (through Project Gutenberg's Distributed Proofreaders site. www.pgdp.net) scan old books, the scans go through 2 rounds of proofreading and 2 rounds of formatting before being put into final form and uploaded. How do I know this? Because I'm one of the many volunteers who proofread ... for fun. I know, I know, I'm such confused individual :)

Anyway, PG has lots of books on religion (both Christian and non-Christian) available, and there are at any time, 5 or 6 books on religion currently in the pipeline. Rather than duplicate effort, consider contacting PG and see what kind of common cause can be worked out.

Lisa-Ann

[ClarkB]

I actually started WikiCath with two goals: to wikify and update the old CE, and to build a Catholic Scripture commentary. We are well into wikifying the Douay-Rheims version of the Bible (mercifully out of copyright) as well as Wikifying articles of the CE.

I would LOVE to merge this site with New Advent and WikiKto - there is absolutely no reason why there should be competing Catholic Wikis. My email address is clarkbmiller@gmail.com if you want to get in touch.

[Kevin Jones]

Kevin K,

My vote is to keep an original copy of the CE, but also use its contents as fodder for fresher articles.

About the only suggestion I have for gatekeeping would be to consider a "council of wise elders" approach. Start with a small group of trustworthy, knowledgable people, one or two of whom would approve not a new editing job but rather every new member applicant. Approved new registrants would for a short time then be the responsibility of the "elders" who approved him.

That kind of sponsorship itself might be too much work, and also raise the cost of entry for willing participants, leading to fewer volunteers. Might be worth considering, it could keep out the rabble.

[Markéta]

http://www.kathpedia.com/index.php?title=Hauptseite

Kathpedia - german version with 318 articles at the momet

[RC]

Maybe the name is inspired by KTO, a Catholic TV organization in Europe.

[Meg Q]

Some good ideas here. Of course, I do love Jeff's "WikiCatechism", especially with the "WikiCatechism 404 Error" page! :^)

[Meg Q]

RC - I thought that might be, like an American Catholic might say "WikiEWTN" perhaps (perhaps).

[jane]

one for witches could be called wiki wikka
one for glue could be called wiki sticky
one for candles wiki wick
one for the vice pres wiki dicky

ok...good night..the time change is playing games with my beain

[jane]

brain

[Tim]

Kevin,

I think you'd be making a huge mistake to wikify the Catholic Encyclopedia. Wikipedia works because there are so many editors, and highly knowledgeable ones at that.

The catechetical nature of a Catholic wikipedia would demand so much more care than your average wiki in ensuring its accuracy, that I think you'd have a great deal of difficulty being successful without the long-term commitment of at least several highly-educated and faithful theologians.

[chrysostom]

I hope the wiki goes well!

[Lee]

Better than a free for all wiki, would be an editor controlled version of a Catholic Encyclopedia. This is being implemented now on Catholic Library.. Users are invited to send in their articles.

[Innocent]

This is a wonderful idea.

Here's another Catholic Wiki that's not listed here:
http://www.catecheticsonline.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

If these projects progress at even a hundredth of the rate of Wikipedia, it would be capital achivement. Since I have made a modest amount of edits to Wikipedia, (mostly regarding Catholic subjects), I applaud this idea of a Catholic version of Wikipedia.

Since Wikipedia has its famous NPOV policy, many use that excuse to vent their (conscious or unconscious) resentment against Catholicism.
(Some examples could be given here, but then Wikipedia could construct my comment post as influencing Wikipedia in an external forum and sue me!)

The policy for such Wikis could be called CPOV (Catholic Point of View) and NPOV could be forbidden! {grin}

I pray for all those involved in such projects.

Yours in Christ,
Innocent.

[Caitlin]

Hi,

I just launched the Catholic Wiki Project. It's a one year experiment to see if the Catholic community can come together to create an accurate, valuable resource on Catholicism. It just launched yesterday so I've got another 364 days to see if it will work...

http://thecatholicwiki.com

[Jane]

I checked WikiKto and it doesn't seem to exist anymore. WikiCath looks like it's no longer being maintained. Unfortunately the spammers seem to have taken over the site.