User:Maclean25/Federal Electoral Districts

''This is a temporary page to prepare for a brainstorming session and concensus-building on the topic. I will propose to take this public on 1 November 2005.''

Wikipedia can become the most comprehensive source for federal voting history and electoral district information anywhere. Currently relevant information is scattered throughout a variety of sources on government, media, educational and political-oriented websites, as well as at Elections Canada.

Extracting and sorting information from these sources and integrating it into Wikipedia in an easy-to-understand layout can be achieved with the collective efforts of editors familiar with the subject. Specifically, this effort needs editors who understand Wikipedia, government, and voting; those who can design efficient and aesthetically-pleasing pages; those who can manipulate Wikipedia code to present these designs in an easy-to-edit code; those who can find, use, and reference sources of information (on the internet and in print); those who are familiar with the details and local issues of specific electoral districts; and those who can oversee the integration of information into hundreds of articles.

The electoral district articles have already been created and stubbed. Many have already been developed, to varying degrees, but none are complete. This is not an exercise in dumping as much info into an article as possible. It is about quality; making it comprehensive yet easy-to-understand. The reader should be able to understand what it is and what it is about with just a glance, get a better understanding after reading it and even more details after further analysis. The articles are at a stage now where there are options and alternatives to choose. What sections are essential? What information is relevant? What layout should be used?

Below are links to pages that deal with proposed section headings and layouts. In each page there will be a debate on what information should be presented, how it should be presented, and even if that section should exist. This is concensus-building so if you support an idea please say so. However, it is not a vote wherein the majority rules, rather the best arguments will win. Ideas need to be accompanied by clear, direct arguements. There are hundreds of districts, so please pick one and provide an example of your idea. Following this fragmented discussion a proto-type article will be created and put through Peer Review process: first on the Canadian wikipedians' notice board, then a second prototype on the Wikipedia-wide peer review.

Format
Please add your comments to one of the following debates. If you create a new page please list it here.

Page layout
''What order should the sections be listed? Where should the map be placed? Can there be an infobox or template?''

Infobox
''Is an infobox a plausible idea? Can there be an infobox that is relevant to every province? Should different provinces have different infoboxes?''

Proposed sections
Please add your comments to one of the following debates. If you create a new page please list it here.

Opening blurb
''The first thing people see. What should be mentioned? What is essential?''

Demographics
''Lots of census data out there, but what is relevant? and how can it be best presented?''

Geography
What features should the maps show?

History
The origin and fate of an electoral district as expressed through Representation Orders.

Chronology of MPs, featured list format.

Member of Parliament
For current electoral districts, who represents them and what are they doing?

Election results
''The meat of the article. What kind of table is the best?.''

See also, Ext links
How to encourage futher reading without overwhelming, and how to properly reference material.