CZ:Charter/Definitions

This page is dedicated to drafting a charter for Citizendium and should only be edited by those eight Citizens elected to the drafting Committee. The talk page is also reserved for them to discuss the evolution of the document. Other Citizens, please comment on the dedicated thread at the Citizen Forum. Non-Citizens can comment in a separate thread at the non-Member Forum.

This is the final version of the document drafted by the Charter drafting Committee. It shall be subject to a public vote.

This page shall host definitions of terms used in the charter that may otherwise be ambiguous.

Encyclopedia

As an encyclopedia, Citizendium is a collection of information, with context and interconnections, which emphasizes accuracy and neutrality over sheer number of articles. With due regard to the integrity and usability of information, we incorporate advanced knowledge navigation, features for specific communities such as research and education...

Citizendium is NOT an encyclopedia. It is a compendium.

A compendium by definition is a short, complete summary; an abstract. I can't speak for all authors and editors but when I write for CZ, I am aiming for it to be comprehensive, not a summary. Compendium for me is not the right word. Meg Ireland 03:08, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Compendium

A compendium is a collection of knowledge. Some of this knowledge is encyclopedic in nature but it is not exclusively encyclopedic. The Citizens' Compendium is an open source platform for making structured knowledge freely and reusably available in public. This shall include original research, synthesis, memoirs, archives, original works of literature and art, as well as encyclopedic knowledge.

Original research may come under the umbrella of fringe theory. Given the hostility to some of these articles perhaps 'original research' such be dropped from this definition. Meg Ireland 11:44, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Yes, we should clarify the scope. Does an encyclopedia necessarily restrict the above? (comment by Matt)

We can certainly make CZ:Charter drafting/Definitions#Encyclopedia contain these notions. --Daniel Mietchen 22:02, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

Maybe it's just me, but these definitions and the distinction that's being drawn between them seem somewhat idiosyncratic. Is there a source for them, because they seem at odds with typical dictionary definitions of the terms (especially "compendium")? Shamira Gelbman 01:47, 17 October 2009 (UTC)