Tell us about Swedish Wikipedia

The English Wikipedia has articles about the Swedish Wikipedia, the Swedish language and the country Sweden. Language and country are mostly identical; minorities exist but play a smaller role than in other countries. Most Swedes also speak English and some contributors from Sweden only contribute to the English Wikipedia, because the Swedish Wikipedia has less coverage in their special topic. During 2008 a number of initiatives have aimed to improve the quality of the Swedish Wikipedia, in contrast to the earlier focus on a large number of articles, based on an essay from February 2008 (English translation).

Swedish wikipedians have organized meet-ups at cafes since 2005. Wikimedia Sverige, the Swedish chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation, was formed in October 2007 and participated in the Göteborg Book Fair in September 2008 (four days, 948 exhibitors, 101,280 visitors).

Questionaire

Contributors

Wikimedia Statistics can be difficult to interprete. What is your impression, how many steady contributors do you have?

Maybe about 100 which I'd recognice the login name of. Andejons 19:18, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

LA2 once counted 800 contibutors with at least 500 edits the last month; the count was made in june, or maybe in spring, this year (2008). I myself probably recognise around 200-300 name, and "know" about 50 people well. Leo Johannes 18:05, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Are your contributors mostly native speakers?

Yes. There is the occasional exception, though. Andejons 19:18, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, indeed. People unifying their accounts mostly adds interwikis. Leo Johannes 18:05, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Where do your contributors live (regions/country)?

The absolute majority lives in Sweden, some live in Finland, and a few live in other countries. Andejons 19:18, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

As Andejons. Leo Johannes 18:05, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How common is it that your contributors meet in real life?

Quite common. Our page about it is "Wikipedia:Wikiträffar", translated "Wiki meetings". Those meetings maybe are one in a month or one in a week. Wikimedia Foundation has a local chapter of Sweden, Wikimedia Sverige, and the members have met sometimes. Leo Johannes 18:05, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Other Wikipedias

Do you have special contacts with another Wikipedias (maybe in related languages)?

I occasionally edit on English Wikipedia, and sometimes read articles in the German, Danish or Norwegian Wikipedias. Andejons 19:18, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

If you means the Swedish Wikipedia contributors in general, I would say most of the active people also have an account in enwp. Swedish Wikipedia is not that involved in Skanwiki, we do not have any "today's featured scandinavian article", and we don't rank iw's (except for alphabetically); in other words, nnwp first lists the scandinavian Wikipedias and the English Wikipedia in the interwikilink list, but we don't. We are, compared to other Wikipedias, very aware of something called "globalt perspektiv" ("globally perspective"), which means we try to not focus on Sweden, or Norden, or Europe, but writing from a global perspective. This is a part of NPOV, according to some wikipedians, while some users argue that it is much nicer to our readers to write out of a Swedish perspective. Another part of thisn globale perspective is that we try to avoid calling Swedish Wikipedia "svenska Wikipedia", because "svenska Wikipedia" can mean both 1) Wikipedia of Sweden and 2) Wikipedia in Swedish. Instead we write "svenskspråkiga Wikipedia ("Swedish language Wikipedia/Wikipedia in Swedish"), or "Wikipedia på svenska" ("Wikipedia in Swedish"). It can be noted that I like this globally perspective and that my opinion may not represent the view of the whole community. Ontopic again: I myself am connected to SUL, as many other Swedish Wikipedia contributors. Leo Johannes 18:20, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I oftenly speak with people from all kind of wikipedias and different languages on IRC. But mostly I edit on the languages I am able to speak, which is nordic languages, spanish, russian and english. //Moralist 20:10, 1 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Do you translate a lot from other Wikipedias? Which ones?

Not really, but if so, from English Wikipedia. Andejons 19:18, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I would say there are many translations done at Swedish Wikipedia, especially amongst the articles who later gets featured (we earlier had "utmärkta" (counterpart to featured) and "läsvärda" (counterpart to good), but now our system is undergoing change, and it is wuite confused; however, I mean the best of our articles in this case). Those are mostly made from English, German or a scandinavian language (sometimes a user both takes part of an article from, for instance, English and German Wikipedia). New users sometimes uses Google Translate to translate articles, but those translations are quickly deleted (if the user in question not have improved the language before putting it in Swedish Wikipedia). And, personally, I translate a lot; I have translated many Eurovision articles from English Wikipedia, and am right now doing a translation from nnwp. Leo Johannes 18:21, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

From english, danish and bokmål wikipedia so far. I hope that I will be able to translate from other languages later on. //Moralist 20:10, 1 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Organization and support

Is there a Wikimedia chapter in your country? How does your language relate to it?

Yes, Wikimedia Sverige.

Yes. Many of Wikimedia Sverige 's members are active contributors to Swedish Wikipedia, but there are actually people there who have edited Wikipedia just a few times, but most often they are involved in other free woftare-related stuff. Leo Johannes 18:26, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Are there work groups in other organizations about Wikipedia?

No, although Astronomiåret 2009 (Astronomy year 2009) is planned to partly consist of a consist in writing astronomy related articles for Swedish Wikipedia. Also, some study classes include wiriting the work in Wikipedia. Leo Johannes 18:26, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Your Wikipedia and the linguistic community

Is there a language institution for your language, like an Academy, or a club of people interested in your language? Do you have contact with them?

Yes, one which mostly gives advice and not steer the language. No formal contact that I know of. Andejons 19:18, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

TT-rådet, Nationalencyklopedin (it is an encyklopedia, but is canonical in what you should call things in Swedish), and Lexin. Leo Johannes 18:34, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Who (else) supports you?
How looks your public outreach for your edition? Do you have flyers, give lectures, trainings etc.?

Wikimedia Sverige is arranging a Wikipedia Academy for the first time in November.

In the Edit Wikipedia Week, at least one user (me) put posters on billboards. I think LA2 have given lectures about Wikipedia. Leo Johannes 18:34, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Do you get feedback from readers?

Occasionally, when there's a mistake or question. Andejons 19:18, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, we do have a page called Wikipedia:Anmäl ett fel ("Report an error"), where readers are encougoraged to report mistakes, errors and such things - and of course, correct it them selfes. Leo Johannes 18:34, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

What other encyclopedias exist in your language?

The only one which is similar in scope and still updated is Nationalencyklopedin. Andejons 19:18, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

As Andejons. Also Nordisk familjebok can be noted, as it is in the Public Domain (at least the Owl edition), and is poublicly availibel at Project Runeberg. Quite often contributors use textes from there. Leo Johannes 18:34, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Content

Does your edition concentrates on certain topics, like your region and language, or Latin Wikipedia on Roman history and Christianity?

Not through any central decision, but we tend to have more material related to Sweden than other regions of the world. Andejons 19:18, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

As I have stated before: "Swedish Wikipedia is not that involved in Skanwiki, we do not have any "today's featured scandinavian article", and we don't rank iw's (except for alphabetically); in other words, nnwp first lists the scandinavian Wikipedias and the English Wikipedia in the interwikilink list, but we don't. We are, compared to other Wikipedias, very aware of something called "globalt perspektiv" ("globally perspective"), which means we try to not focus on Sweden, or Norden, or Europe, but writing from a global perspective. This is a part of NPOV, according to some wikipedians, while some users argue that it is much nicer to our readers to write out of a Swedish perspective. Another part of thisn globale perspective is that we try to avoid calling Swedish Wikipedia "svenska Wikipedia", because "svenska Wikipedia" can mean both 1) Wikipedia of Sweden and 2) Wikipedia in Swedish. Instead we write "svenskspråkiga Wikipedia ("Swedish language Wikipedia/Wikipedia in Swedish"), or "Wikipedia på svenska" ("Wikipedia in Swedish")." However, we tend to have more textes about Sweden, although this certainly not is a goal. It can be noted that I like this globally perspective and that my opinion may not represent the view of the whole community. Leo Johannes 18:42, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Did your edition enjoy text donations, for example from older encyclopedias?

Yes, primarily from Nordisk familjebok, but also from other PD works. Andejons 19:18, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

As I have stated before: "Nordisk familjebok can be noted, as it is in the Public Domain (at least the Owl edition), and is publicly availibel at Project Runeberg. Quite often contributors use textes from there." Leo Johannes 18:37, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Language

Is there a generally accepted norm about your language (spelling, dictionary, pronunciation)?

Yes. Andejons 19:18, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. Authorities are TT-rådet, Nationalencyklopedin (it is an encyklopedia, but is canonical in what you should call things in Swedish), and Lexin. Leo Johannes 18:42, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

How do you deal with different spellings, dialects etc. (like B.E. lift and A.E. elevator)?

There is no policy for how to deal with regional differences, but standard Swedish allows for some differences here. Dialectal words tends to be used if and only if they have not spread into standard Swedish but the underlying concept is noteable. Andejons 19:18, 28 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

See Andejons' and my previous answer. Leo Johannes 18:40, 29 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]