Talk:Visual Resources Association

problems with the article
My assistance was requested with this article. There are a number of problems, some serious, but all fixable.

1.The article needs to prove notability with references providing substantial coverage from 3rd party independent published reliable sources, print or online, but not blogs or press releases, or material derived from press releases. This is not really adequately done--sources that talk about the association are what's needed. Probably some of the many art library and museum publications have written articles describing the association. They're the sort of thing needed.

2. But the serious problem is copyright. You must explicitly license the rights to the material according to our licensing, using the CC-BY-SA and the GNU  licenses, as explained in WP:COPYRIGHT and WP:Donating copyrighted materials ; be aware that these licenses  give everyone in the world an irrevocable license to reuse and alter the material, even for commercial purposes.   Many organizations aren tt willing to do this, for it gives everyone an permanent irrevocable right to change and use the material as they like. In general, I do not really recommend doing this because for material from a website, even if you give us permission, the tone will not be encyclopedic and the material will not be suitable.You   need to write like an encyclopedia article, not a press release--don't praise the organization, say what it does.. Don't talk about the overall importance of the subject--talk about what it has accomplished.

3. Include only the material that would be of interest to a general reader coming across the mention of the organization and wanting the sort of information that would be found in an encyclopedia. Do not include material that would be of interest only to those associated with the organization, or to prospective clients--that sort of content is considered promotional. The name should be used only the minimum number of times, only the leading officials should be mentioned, the detailed administrative history should be given only in brief. most adjectives & vague statements of praise need to =be removed, along with   directory information about locations and contacts, and   discussions about the general  importance of the industry.

4.As a general rule, a suitable page will be best written by someone without Conflict of Interest; it's not impossible to do it properly with a conflict of interest or as a paid press agent, but it's relatively more difficult: you are automatically thinking in terms of the organization wishes to communicate to the public, but an uninvolved person will think in terms of what the public might wish to know. If you think you can do it right according to the guidelines, do so, but expect the article to be carefully checked for objectivity.

5. I  urge you to help write a proper article. I am willing to help you--I have made rather a specialty here of rewriting articles like this. I will start by making several passes through the material, removing inappropriate content. The copyvio will be best dealt with by condensing the presentation, copyediting for brevity avoiding jargon, and writing the various sections afresh. The goal of an encyclopedia is to say things in a concise manner, which is not the style of  press releases or  web sites, which are usually more expansive. After I do this, I will indicate parts that you can best help with

6. For further information see our FAQ about business, organizations, and articles like this and also WP:FIRST. I do not want to discourage you, but to urge you to write a proper article In addition, we are in great need of articles in this subject area, and the association and its members can be of the greatest aasistance in, please help us by writing articles on missing topics, and improving our other articles on related topics.

Let me also add, we have an active program of cooperating with museums and similar organizations. We are delighted to work together as closely as you wish with any such group that wishes to see its resources better vovered on Wikipedia, and thus contribute to the common mission of public education. See Advice for the cultural sector   DGG ( talk ) 08:16, 13 March 2011 (UTC)

Progress

 * 1) Well, I ended up rewriting almost the entire article. It's more concise, and looks less promotional. The manner  of an encyclopedia  is to say things in a concise manner, which is not the style of  press releases or  web sites, which are usually more expansive.
 * 2) What you can now do best to help, is to add 3rd party references, as described in no.1, above.
 * 3) You might also consider a list of past presidents. In general, being the president of a national organization is one of the criteria for notability of an academic (see WP:PROF)
 * 4) We also need an article on the VRA Bulletin. See our WikiProject Academic Journals/Writing guide.  As it specifies there, the best way to start is by using    the infobox journal template; but also convert the information there  to prose. Do NOT copy the journal website. The successive editors of a journal are also usually considered notable  here, so add their names.     DGG ( talk ) 01:43, 14 March 2011 (UTC)

Other links
Links to be remembered at discussion and some at article:
 * http://www.loc.gov/standards/vracore/schemas.html
 * https://s3.amazonaws.com/VRA/ontology.html#Organization
 * http://www.loc.gov/standards/vracore/VRA_Core4_Intro.pdf
 * http://www.loc.gov/standards/vracore/vra-strict.xsd
 * https://github.com/mixterj/VRA-RDF-Project
 * https://github.com/mixterj/VRA-RDF-Project

Assessment comment
Substituted at 10:03, 30 April 2016 (UTC)