From https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Wikinews_talk:WikiReporter

About this tool

This tool is being developed as part of the 2016 The Huffington Post and Change.org Editors Lab. Anyone with questions may contact user:Pharos or me user:bluerasberry. <span style="background:#cedff2;color:#11e">' Blue Rasberry '</span>((User talk:Bluerasberry|<span style="cursor:help"><span style="background:#cedff2;color:#11e">(talk)</span></span>)) 19:08, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

We've got nothing to do with HuffPo. I doubt we'd want to have anything to do with them. En.wn follows a profoundly different vision of news than HuffPo, and our neutrality policy forbids advertising for them either. Pi zero (talk) 19:15, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
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Sending someone to another site sounds very fishy, when it arises in the same breath with HuffPo. Pi zero (talk) 19:17, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
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It also doesn't sound likely to produce anything at all close to what is acceptable at en.wn. Pi zero (talk) 19:20, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
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It also doesn't sound likely to produce anything at all close to what is acceptable at en.wn. Pi zero (talk) 19:20, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
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We are a group of three independent Wikimedians who were invited to a hackathon to pursue our own project for the weekend, which happens to be at a physical office of Change.org (who are collaborating with HuffPo, NYTimes, and others for this event). We certainly have no interest in importing HuffPo's editorial policy here (!).Pharos (talk) 19:24, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
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Noted.
Three? I see Pharos and Bluerasberry (hi, folks 
-). Who's the third, if I may ask?
Some general observations.
* En.wn OR is quite demanding; we recommend aspiring writers learn the ropes with synthesis, getting a few published articles under their belt, before considering moving up to OR.
* Regarding interactive assistance for Wikinews (or any other wiki, for that matter), I've got a major project underway for about four years now, described broadly at {{nowrap|User
Pi zero/essays/vision/sisters}}. There are basically three levels to it, not chronologically separated:
*# provide the technical means for wiki markup to specify interactivity. After four years of development I've got most of that working; cf. Help
Dialog.
*# build particular interactive assistants using the low-level tools. I've been slowly easing into that part; cf. Wikinews
Assistant.
*# learn how to use the tools effectively, and hopefully build an interactive assistant for building and maintaining interactive assistants. Some of the low-level facilities have been/will be designed with the meta-assistant idea in mind.
Pi zero (talk) 19:41, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
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{{ping|Pi zero}} The third on the team is Pablo Duboue. You can learn more about him from [http
//duboue.net/|his website], and you might read his research which includes data from Wikipedia.
*Acknowledged, WN
OR is demanding. Wikinews generally is demanding and mostly not growing as a project. I do not have all answers to all problems, and while OR might be more difficult, it is also more attractive and fun than WN:Synthesis and does not compete with Wikipedia. Most people who do Synthesis go to their respective Wikipedias where comparable research journalism is supported with a larger community.
*The tools you are developing seem like tools for a functionary community in Wikinews. For this project we are seeking to lower the barrier to entry for content creators.
I respect that Wikinews has quality standards and cannot accept content contributions that do not meet those standards. Still, I wish to explore the idea of using templates to encourage more people to try to cover events of all sorts in Wikinews. Our target quality standard will be existing Wikinews articles covering events. I hope that this exercise helps to articulate challenges and opportunities in the development of Wikinews as a publishing platform. If you have other suggestions or feedback then please share. ' Blue Rasberry '((User talk:Bluerasberry|(talk))) 20:42, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
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I'll be interested to see what you have in mind when you say "templates". You might be similarly interested in what I have in mind... except that I've long since realized the only really effective way I know to explain is to actually build it, and point and say "there, that's what I mean".

The tools I'm developing are specifically designed to empower ordinary users. I think there's been widespread misunderstanding, persistently over the decades, of what makes for a long-term-successful tool. Bells and whistles, like Flow or VisualEditor, don't last; the things with real longevity are text-based... like wiki markup. To make the approach I have in mind work, a lot of background work is needed, and so far I've poured about four years into it. I'm aware that people won't necessarily see the potential in a set of low-level primitives, which is why merely providing those primitives is only the first part of what I need to do.

Btw

Our synthesis articles don't compete with en.wp. Fundamentals of en.wp workflow make it impossible for any of its articles ever to qualify as journalism.

Imho there's good reason to believe the low-activity problems of en.wn aren't caused by the high standards (or perhaps the emphasis there should go on the word caused). I've been trying for some time now to scrape up the time to write an essay on my view of the challenges and potential solutions for en.wn. I've got in mind (but not written down) a model of the dynamics of the project and the points where making things work more smoothly could enable project growth, and those points are key targets for interactive dialog. Pi zero (talk) 21:46, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

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The template will be presented tomorrow. The idea is to have someone enter data into a form connected to a database. This is a pilot, but there is also an idea to connect the database to Wikidata so that all events get a Wikidata item. From that point a text generator outputs a few sentences to constitute the outline of a Wikinews article on a gathering. Depending on how many form questions are answered, more sentences are generated, and if enough data is provided the hope is to output a minimally viable Wikinews article.
Wikipedia might not meet some definitions of journalism but in the information marketplace it is definitely competing with journalism.
I have no opinion about Flow or Visualeditor. Those are cosmetic interfaces and if I had to describe what we are trying to do, it is to create a quick interface to guide people to produce a set of objective data; publish that in a permanent, machine-readable repository; and output the data as a minimalist human-readable record that invites human journalism and other media contributions like event pictures and video. This is a two-day concept and project. We are seeing where the idea can go and what is possible.
{{wikinews|Pride in London 2013
in pictures|July 1, 2013}} has been judged by the Wikinews community as a good contribution. I would like to see articles like that for every sizable gathering ever in any context. Beyond just that, I want to encourage more human-written journalism on top of that. ' Blue Rasberry '((User talk:Bluerasberry|(talk))) 23:52, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
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{{ping|Bluerasberry}} When Wikipedia tries to be journalism it violates its own policies, deludes itself, and does damage to its readers and to society. (What strong opinion? Me?)

We're agreed that Flow/VE are cosmetic; apparently we're on the same page there.

The way you describe composition of a news article sounds... piecemeal. Though that's just how it came across as a preliminary impression, obviously. There's structure to a news article, and principles one needs to understand in writing the individual sentences. To be clear on where my general skepticism is coming from

I maintain that WMF keeps producing worse-than-useless software initiatives because it's impossible for outsiders to know what's needed on a project, therefore the only way to produce the right tools is to crowdsource it to the ordinary users of the wiki in much the same way one crowdsources the primary content to them &mdash; hence my project to turn the construction of wizards into something ordinary wiki users can do.

Anyway, if you're looking for at least an introductory understanding of en.wn, I suggest starting with WN:PILLARS, then WN:WRITE.

Although I've found the people at Wikidata to be good folks and well-meaning, I'm not convinced that, in its overall effects on the sister projects, Wikidata ever does as much good as it does harm. So if you're looking for a tough audience, I qualify. :-P Pi zero (talk) 00:27, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

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I am not sure that I agree that Wikipedia tries to do anything. It is difficult for me to assign intent to anyone or any part of the project. I do appreciate that it attracts, collects, and categorizes criticism more readily than other media outlets. It is the last popular nonprofit media organization in the world (only it and archive.org are among the Alexa 500) and whatever else happens, if Wikipedia fades, that might be the end of nonprofit media for a long time.
Yes, I am describing minimalist journalism. This method will not produce good articles but I do want it to produce minimally acceptable ones, and to produce a lower standard that says, "at least this much is expected". I am at English Wikinews for this but the way this project is designed could be used with Wikidata translation so that 3-4 sentences about a given event could be translated into every language in the Wikimedia ecosystem, and anyone could do queries counting events and event characteristics. ("How many people protested government leaders in 2015?", "How many cities had LGBT pride marches in each year from 2010-2015"?) Wikinews can also surface related journalism for events that get press coverage that would be considered too fleeting in other contexts. I live in New York, and one US presidential candidate is doing 3 rallies here today. They are at schools so each school's newspaper will produce journalism on the events, but it would not be worthwhile for Wikinews to invest a lot in original journalism replicating each one. A combination of database records and automated article generation might be useful, and then a bigger journalism insight could be from analyzing collections of smaller events. Right now, lots of gatherings happen and hardly get logged in any meaningful public way, including for example in countries like America where politicians' public speeches may not even be recorded.
Yes, I am bringing Wikidata to encroach on Wikinews a little. Sorry, I know it is a bit invasive and not welcome. Still, I am just making a proposal and putting options on the table. Also - whatever opinions you formed about either Wikidata or the Wikimedia Foundation or the Wikimedia community go out of date quickly. Maybe you saw that Denny from Wikidata is off the WMF board of trustees as of yesterday. Besides that if you formed any opinions 6 months ago, the WMF has spent USD 50 million since then, had a board turnover of 50%+, and had staff changes on the order of 20%. There is scarcely anyone in the world that can follow everything that is going in the Wikimedia investment space on but I am sure that if anyone has highly objectionable ideas about organizational investment then people would squeal. Certainly in New York all sorts of external organizations look to Wikipedia's business. Huffington Post has nothing to do with this project, but on the other hand, they and 500+ other organizations make overtures to be involved in Wikimedia projects in some way.
Whatever you are doing to advance Wikinews and lay foundations for future development is on the right track. You would do well to write any philosophical manifesto you like as well, because Wikinews has not yet come to its peak of utility and when that time comes, it will be too late to establish its ideological history. There happen to be Wikipedians doing this demo for this project - maybe for the next project anyone might show up, and maybe they do not even do their development on-wiki. I am not the only one who sees value here. Thanks for the chat - I would talk more anytime. ' Blue Rasberry '((User talk:Bluerasberry|(talk))) 14:20, 9 April 2016 (UTC)
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{{ping|Bluerasberry}} We're approaching the deep philosophical ideas &mdash; both mine and yours, I suspect &mdash; rather upside-down-and-backwards, starting from some far-downstream consequences and working our way erratically back. I do realize what you're doing is of limited scope and it can be valuable to get a different perspective. I'm concerned that (1) a wikinews-article-writing assistant constructed by wikimedians who aren't experienced with Wikinews may tend to produce submissions that don't meet our publication threshold, and (2) a resulting influx of substandard articles could be frustrating all around. (I do think you're missing the momentum of the WMF's corporate culture... argh; I can think of several other points to remark on too, but should probably save them for another day.) --Pi zero (talk) 18:26, 9 April 2016 (UTC)
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Wikinews articles to consider emulating

This tool is a wizard for generating event articles. Here are some Wikinews event articles which might be model targets for the sort of text which the Editorslab tool should generate.

  1. Conferences
    1. {{wikinews|Wikinews reports from 2008 Taiwan Open Source Developers' Conference|April 13, 2008}}
    2. {{wikinews|Global youth conference on genocide begins in Kigali|June 16, 2005}}
    3. {{wikinews|Copenhagen climate conference opens|December 8, 2009}}
    4. {{wikinews|World climate conference in Nairobi|November 13, 2006}}
    5. {{wikinews|2006 Chinese wiki conference occurs in Shanghai|August 12, 2006}}
    6. {{wikinews|Conference discusses the credibility of blogs|January 21, 2005}}
    7. {{wikinews|Open Rights Group holds first conference in London|July 25, 2010}}
  2. Lectures
    1. {{wikinews|Belgian Archbishop lectures on health care and religion|March 23, 2007}}
    2. {{wikinews|Spanish prime minister speaks on economic crisis|October 20, 2008}}
    3. {{wikinews|Canadian Governor General speaks on Montreal shooting|September 15, 2006}}
    4. {{wikinews|Iranian President Ahmadinejad speaks at Columbia University|September 25, 2007}}
    5. {{wikinews|US Senator Joseph Lieberman speaks at Republican National Convention|September 3, 2008}}
    6. {{wikinews|US presidential candidate Obama speaks in Berlin, Germany|July 28, 2008}}
  3. Award
    1. {{wikinews|Dan Savage wins Webby Award for It Gets Better Project|June 3, 2011}}
    2. {{wikinews|DiCaprio finally wins Oscar for Best Actor|February 29, 2016}}
    3. {{wikinews|Wendell Lira wins FIFA Puskás Award 2015|January 13, 2016}}
    4. {{wikinews|Bayern Munich Starlet wins awards at 2007 FIFA U17 World Cup|September 10, 2007}}
    5. {{wikinews|Sandra Fluke nominated by Time magazine for Person of the Year|November 30, 2012}}
  4. Exhibitions
    1. {{wikinews|Buddhist relic collection tours North America and world|November 25, 2006}}
    2. {{wikinews|2008 Taipei International Book Exhibition: Varied features at Kid Book Hall|February 15, 2008}}
    3. {{wikinews|Reflections, Lichtenstein, two new exhibitions at Edinburgh's Modern One|March 14, 2015}}
    4. {{wikinews|Liverpool Biennial 2006 art festival starts|September 14, 2006}}
  5. Parades|}}
    1. {{wikinews|100 participate in Zagreb Pride|July 11, 2005}}
    2. {{wikinews|Moscow celebrates Victory Day with military parade|May 11, 2009}}
    3. {{wikinews|Rose Parade Continues Amidst Downpour|January 2, 2006}}
    4. {{wikinews|Huge Gay Pride parade held in Brazil|May 30, 2005}}
    5. {{wikinews|Taiwan breaks bicycle parade world record| July 21, 2007}}
    6. {{wikinews|Thousands march in gay pride parade in Buenos Aires|November 20, 2007}}
  6. Protests
    1. {{wikinews|Protesters in England call for change to cricket governance|August 20, 2015}}
    2. {{wikinews|Ukrainians rally in memory of Donbass dead|January 21, 2015}}
    3. {{wikinews|Millions march in France and around the world in support of Charlie Hebdo|January 12, 2015}}
    4. {{wikinews|Protesters arrested after barricading themselves inside portion of Keystone Oil Pipeline|December 4, 2012}}
    5. {{wikinews|Protests in Turkey over Presidential candidate|April 30, 2007}}
    6. {{wikinews|Greek demonstrators protest austerity measures|May 5, 2010}}
    7. {{wikinews|Belgrade: demonstration against independent Kosovo escalates into riots|February 21, 2008}}
    8. {{wikinews|More than 100 demonstrate against data retention in Vienna, Austria| June 10, 2007}}
    9. {{wikinews|Demonstration held in support of Jill Carroll| January 20, 2006}}
    10. {{wikinews|Protesters rally in Beirut|March 15, 2005}}


<span style="background:#cedff2;color:#11e">' Blue Rasberry '</span>((User talk:Bluerasberry|<span style="cursor:help"><span style="background:#cedff2;color:#11e">(talk)</span></span>)) 20:19, 8 April 2016 (UTC)

{{ping|Bluerasberry}} It's advisable to stick to models no earlier than 2009 (or 2010 to be very safe), as the modern review regime was imposed in 2009 and so articles from before then may have some characteristics that are no longer best-practice. Of interest is Featured article, noting that even featured articles from the earliest years of en.wn may in some cases be underdocumented by modern standards. Pi zero (talk) 20:31, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
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{{ping|Pi zero}} Thanks for the suggestion and for dating some of these articles. Here are the featured articles since 2010 which seem to be about gatherings.
*{{wikinews|Thousands take to streets protesting 'ratbag's Bedroom Tax|March 31, 2013}}
*{{wikinews|Warhol's photo legacy spread by university exhibits|January 28, 2014}}
*{{wikinews|Pride in London 2013
in pictures|July 1, 2013}}
*{{wikinews|300 protesters greet Farage's return to Edinburgh|May 10, 2014}}
*{{wikinews|Glasgow cannabis enthusiasts celebrate 'green' on city green|April 22, 2014}}
I do not expect to be able to learn all about Wikinews standards before tomorrow but I will do my best.
Can you direct me to any policy about the "Pride in London" article above? I notice that it is someone's photo collection but I would not have imagined a photo collection to be considered a featured article. Thanks. ' Blue Rasberry '((User talk:Bluerasberry|(talk))) 23:22, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
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{{ping|Bluerasberry}} I added a template on the talk page of that photo essay that provides a link to the nomination discussion that promoted it to FA. Photo essays are a different type of article, really; Original Reporting of a special kind. Here's a link for a DPL of Featured photo essays
{{intersection link|cat1=Featured article|cat2=Photo essays}}. Pi zero (talk) 23:38, 8 April 2016 (UTC)
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Wikidata concepts of events and gatherings

See these Wikidata items. Wikidata suggests a list of properties which describe events, and which could be used as questions for a form which prompt reporters to give certain information when describing events.


<span style="background:#cedff2;color:#11e">' Blue Rasberry '</span>((User talk:Bluerasberry|<span style="cursor:help"><span style="background:#cedff2;color:#11e">(talk)</span></span>)) 15:07, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

Some more that are relevant


Pharos (talk) 15:28, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

First question would be "What sort of event happened?" These are the options. In Wikidata the event entry becomes "Property:P31 - "instance of" speech, protest or whatever. The following questions can also be asked:


<span style="background:#cedff2;color:#11e">' Blue Rasberry '</span>((User talk:Bluerasberry|<span style="cursor:help"><span style="background:#cedff2;color:#11e">(talk)</span></span>)) 15:37, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

Sample event reports

Political rally

Consider the March 25 political rally in Seattle by a United States presidential candidate. His own website and other news sources describe the event.

  1. What was the event?
  2. :speech
  3. What was the date?
  4. :25 March 2016
  5. What was the location?
  6. :Seattle
  7. Who was the speaker?
  8. :Bernie Sanders
  9. Why was the event held?
  10. :2016 United States democratic primary
  11. What was the topic of the speech?
  12. :Political positions of the Democratic Party


Possible news story:
On (March 25 2016), (Bernie Sanders) presented a speech in (Seattle). The event was held because of (2016 United States democratic primary). The topic of the speech was (political positions of the Democratic party).
<span style="background:#cedff2;color:#11e">' Blue Rasberry '</span>((User talk:Bluerasberry|<span style="cursor:help"><span style="background:#cedff2;color:#11e">(talk)</span></span>)) 16:49, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

Conference

Consider the 2016 AAAS Conference described by Science magazine in "AAAS 2016 Annual Meeting Program".

  1. What was the event?
  2. :conference
  3. What was the date?
  4. :11-16 February 2016
  5. What was the location?
  6. :Washington DC
  7. Who were the notable attendees?
  8. :Christopher Dye
  9. :Jennifer Doudna
  10. :Jad Abumrad
  11. What was the general field of discussion?
  12. :Science
  13. Who were the conference presenters?
  14. :American Association for the Advancement of Science


On (February 11-16, 2016) in (Washington DC) the (American Association for the Advancement of Science) presented a conference. The general field of discussion was (science). Notable attendees included (Christopher Dye), (Jennifer Doudna), and (Jad Abumrad).

<span style="background:#cedff2;color:#11e">' Blue Rasberry '</span>((User talk:Bluerasberry|<span style="cursor:help"><span style="background:#cedff2;color:#11e">(talk)</span></span>)) 17:04, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

Parade

Consider the 2016 St. Pat's for All Parade, described in a local newspaper.

  1. What was the event?
  2. :parade
  3. What was the date?
  4. :March 6 2016
  5. What was the location?
  6. :Sunnyside, Queens
  7. Who were the notable attendees?
  8. :Bill de Blasio
  9. What was the reason for the event?
  10. :Q181817:Saint Patrick's Day
  11. Who were the event organizers?
  12. :organizers


On (March 6, 2016) (organizers) presented a (parade) in (Sunnyside, Queens). The reason for the event was (Saint Patrick's Day). Notable attendees included (Bill de Blasio).

<span style="background:#cedff2;color:#11e">' Blue Rasberry '</span>((User talk:Bluerasberry|<span style="cursor:help"><span style="background:#cedff2;color:#11e">(talk)</span></span>)) 17:25, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

Potential illustration of Sunnyside parade
https://www.flickr.com/photos/marcelamcgreal/25217864729/in/photostream/ --Pharos (talk) 19:18, 9 April 2016 (UTC)



2016 St. Pat's for All Parade happened.It was part of the Irish Americans movement.The event was held in reaction to Saint Patrick's Day.There was a march.It happened on March 6, 2016.It happened in New York City.It took place at Sunnyside, Queens.Notable attendees included Bill de Blasio.Event organizers included the parade organizers.


Test output, 3:15pm EST. <span style="background:#cedff2;color:#11e">' Blue Rasberry '</span>((User talk:Bluerasberry|<span style="cursor:help"><span style="background:#cedff2;color:#11e">(talk)</span></span>)) 19:14, 9 April 2016 (UTC)!!!Protest
Generic:

<name> was a <eventtype> associated with the <movement> movement, in reaction to <immediatecause>, and held on <date> in <city>. Focused on the themes of <theme1> and <theme2>, the event was organized by <participants-sponsor1> and <participants-sponsor2> at <venue>, and featured speakers included <speaker1> who said <speech1>, <speaker2> who said <speech2>, etc.


The attendance was <membership-participants1> according to <crowd-source1>, and <membership-participants2> according to <crowd-source2>.

The event was (counter-)protested by <recursive>.

Freely-licensed photographs of the event are available at <commonscat>.

Example:

Thousands take to streets protesting 'ratbag's Bedroom Tax

What is the name of this particular event?

  • <name=Bedroom Tax protests>


What social or political movement is it associated with?

  • <movement=Anti-austerity movement>


What precipitating incident, person or organization, was the event/protest held in reaction to?

  • <immediatecause=Iain Duncan Smith>


What were the theme(s) of the event?

  • <theme=Economic inequality>


Miscellaneous parameters -

  • <date=March 30, 2013>
  • <city=Edinburgh>
  • <participants-sponsor=?>
  • <venue1=Andrew Square, Edinburgh>
  • <venue2=Scottish Parliament>
  • <membership-participants1=1,200>
  • <crowd-source1=?>
  • <membership-participants1=1,600>
  • <crowd-source2=?>
  • <commonscat=Category:Edinburgh Bedroom Tax Protest, March 30 2013>


Pharos (talk) 17:42, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

Questions for parameters

  • What is the event name?
  • What social movement in this a part of?
  • What is being protested?
  • How many attendees?
    • Another estimate?
  • Notable attendees?
  • Security presence?
    • Arrests?
    • Injuries?
  • What city is this in?
  • What specific location (park, building, street)?


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Test drafts


No politics here! Just a test case. <span style="background:#cedff2;color:#11e">' Blue Rasberry '</span>((User talk:Bluerasberry|<span style="cursor:help"><span style="background:#cedff2;color:#11e">(talk)</span></span>)) 19:40, 9 April 2016 (UTC)


With a photo of Mayor de Blasio from the photo upload function.--Pharos (talk) 19:52, 9 April 2016 (UTC)