Talk:Foreign Service Institute

Link to FSI publications
The fsi-language-courses.net links appear to be down. The website seems to be alive, but not hosting anything right now, perhaps this is temporary?

SgnDave 20:56, 9 November 2007 (UTC)


 * That does appear to be the case. Let's email the fsi-language-courses.net admins. -- Craigtalbert 23:19, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Added a link to public domain material produced by authors at the Foreign Service Institute. The missions of the FSI was to train men and women to fill the leadership roles needed for foreign service. A large portion of that training was dedicated to learning foreign languages. A link to public domain material used for the training is certainly relevant to the article.

Stout256 (talk) 02:28, 24 May 2008 (UTC)

Added a "Citation needed" tag to the public domain paragraph. I curious to know which audio files are considered copyrighted and why. 71.220.64.163 (talk) 17:01, 3 January 2010 (UTC)

I decided to remove the link that I just added. Based on the June 23 2011 edits, there appears to be some controversy as to whether the linked site can host Foreign Service Institute material. There is a Foreign Service Institute commercial site that appears to be very closely associated with the US government and displays the US State Department Seal. While I didn't think the US government could normally hold a copyright on material they create, I'd rather not have any problems. TheExtraEditor (talk) 01:07, 28 June 2011 (UTC)
 * The one link that sells the material available for purchase by the USG on tape through transcoding to CD (foreignserviceinstitute.com) uses images that are not public domain - the seal of the Department is not fair use under USG content as there is a US Code citation specifically disallowing fraudulent use (I don't have the exact cite handy, sorry). Apparently State has gone after some of the commercial sites that use the seal.  The one site that doesn't sell it, that appears less commercial, I didn't object to that link as a member of public editing but it's up to State and other editors to hash that.  The Wikipedia addage is good - no commercial links.  Mikebar (talk) 23:48, 28 June 2011 (UTC)
 * I restored the link. I couldn't find any example where State or Defense has asserted a copyright or other usage right over the material. The external site site is non-commercial and the material is related to this article. The material on the site is either original US works published by the State/Defense or by others that have explicitly allowed the use (at least non-commercially). If anyone at State or Defense has any knowledge of a problem, they should bring it up. — Preceding unsigned comment added by TheExtraEditor (talk • contribs) 10:37, 10 July 2011 (UTC)


 * an anon 72.181.213.221 keeps deleting the link. various editors, including me, have tried to put it back in per consensus here on the talk page.  Anon has not made any case why he is deleting the external link.  It is a link to public domain copy write free materials published by the Foreign Service Institute for language studies - a direct relationship to the article topic - the Foreign Service Institute.  It is analogous to a link to university course catalog on the page of a University, with the added benefit of public domain copy write free material. I believe that there is good reason to include the link, and want to put it back in.  I dont want to edit war with an anon, but they have not added to the discussion and seem to be a single purpose account.  The only logic I see in excluding it is that it puts a commercial site that sells the same copywrite free stuff in a competitive disadvantage, as this site is a free published resource.  If there is a different argument why it should be excluded, I am happy to reconsider my thinking.  I intend to add the link back in if there are no objections.   Bevin  bell  08:25, 22 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Could be a foreignserviceinstitute.com sock puppet as you state. I support the link staying in.  Mikebar (talk) 12:25, 22 July 2011 (UTC)


 * I have restored the link. Linguistic Science (talk) 21:19, 22 July 2011 (UTC)


 * He edited it out again. Not sure what is going on, but will put it back in since he has not engaged in any discussion here.  Also, apologies to Linguistic Science for not assuming good faith   Bevin  bell  07:30, 23 July 2011 (UTC)

User Box
Adding the text   on your user page gives you the box

Template:User FSI Mikebar (talk) 13:09, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

Categories of diplomats
Just changed "Foreign Service Officer" to more closely track the official role of the institute as described on its website. "The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is the Federal Government's primary training institution for officers and support personnel of the U.S. foreign affairs community". Maybe it should be further modified to include non diplomatic staff and other members of the foreign affairs community. Dazibao (talk) 08:21, 11 September 2009 (UTC)


 * great point, I have updated to track with the language. I think we should stick with official sources on their mission.  Bevin  bell  13:28, 11 September 2009 (UTC)