User talk:CJM Intern

Potential Conflict of Interest
Hello, CJM Intern. We welcome your contributions, but if you have an external relationship with the people, places or things you have written about in the page Lillian & Albert Small Jewish Museum, you may have a conflict of interest (COI). Editors with a conflict of interest may be unduly influenced by their connection to the topic. See the conflict of interest guideline and FAQ for organizations for more information. We ask that you:


 * avoid editing or creating articles about yourself, your family, friends, colleagues, company, organization or competitors;
 * propose changes on the talk pages of affected articles (you can use the request edit template);
 * disclose your conflict of interest when discussing affected articles (see Conflict of interest);
 * avoid linking to your organization's website in other articles (see WP:Spam);
 * do your best to comply with Wikipedia's content policies.

In addition, you are required by the Wikimedia Foundation's terms of use to disclose your employer, client, and affiliation with respect to any contribution which forms all or part of work for which you receive, or expect to receive, compensation. See Paid-contribution disclosure.

Also, editing for the purpose of advertising, publicising, or promoting anyone or anything is not permitted. Thank you. --EightYearBreak (talk) 20:25, 6 November 2019 (UTC)

The Capital Jewish Museum
Hi there,

Thanks for your feedback on my changes.

While it is true that I am an intern at the museum, and therefore may have a conflict of interest, the content of my changes themselves still ought to be reflected on the museum page. I do not feel strongly about who writes them or if they come from the website or not, but the museum's Wikipedia page should still be updated to reflect accurately the nature of the museum at this time.

For example, the first sentence states: "The Lillian & Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum is a historic synagogue building and museum in Washington, D.C."

The museum as an institution is quite distinct from the Historic 1876 Synagogue, and the historic building is really just the "largest artifact" of the museum's collection, albeit the one that housed the institution until 2016. But it is certainly not itself the museum.

The museum's current website (www.capitaljewishmuseum.org) as well as several news articles reflect this distinction and the museum's re-branding. I would like to see the page updated for the sake of accuracy, rather than for the sake of a particular position or image of the museum.

https://wjla.com/news/local/oldest-synagogue-in-dc-on-move-to-site-of-new-capital-jewish-museum

https://georgetowner.com/articles/2019/01/10/oldest-synagogue-building-physically-moves-new-location-dc-photos/

Finally, I would suggest using the photo on the page currently captioned "Adas Israel Synagogue being moved in 2017. This was the second time the building has been relocated." as the primary image for the page, rather than the 2008 one. Alternatively, I am including an image of the planned new building if that should be preferable.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2017_1122_SD_view_from_NW_1_metal_panel_(2).jpg

Thanks again for your help!

--CJM Intern (talk) 15:43, 11 November 2019 (UTC)


 * Thank you for your reasonable and constructive response. I agree with your basic points--as it stands, particularly following the name change of JHSGW (which I was not aware of until you brought it to my attention), it's not clear whether the article is about that organization; or the coming-soon museum facility; or the original (?) museum building, i.e., the 1876 synagogue. It seems to me that this issue stems from the fact that the article was created (it appears) to discuss the historic building (maybe because it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places), but since the building at that time was synonymous with the museum, the article title was the name of the museum. Then the article naturally came to cover information about the museum inside the building as well.


 * I think what you're suggesting is that the situation has evolved such that the article should really be "about" the museum (that is, the organization and its coming facility), and then the 1876 building would be subsidiary to that. I tend to think that is a good suggestion. I'm sure I have seen other articles about a topic that then includes within the article a substantial section on something like a historic building listed on the NRHP, and that may be the way to go here. I'll probably try to make some changes in the coming days to reflect that approach. And as it says in the standard conflict-of-interest message I posted above, there's always the Request Edit template you can use if you have any specific suggestions but also have a conflict. I think the template will flag your suggestions for review (and, importantly, make sure it will be seen promptly by people other than those who happen to be watching the page closely).


 * By the way, one further point to keep in mind if you do suggest changes or make edits in the future: Wikipedia generally does not allow copying and pasting text from other sources, even if it's an accurate self-description from the article subject's own website. Partly this is a copyright issue, but even if that doesn't apply for whatever reason, there are still concerns with some fundamental Wikipedia principles like using reliable sources and having a neutral point of view. So citing sources like the WJLA and Georgetowner stories above is absolutely the right approach; citing the museum website may be OK if it's the best we've got; and copying verbatim is never going to be OK.


 * (One last thing: I think that image of the planned building would probably be great to include. I see you've uploaded it and stated it is your own work that you're publishing under the Creative Commons license. If it is in fact your own work, then great! If not, please make sure to update the license to reflect the correct ownership/copyright status and whether we are allowed to use it. Thanks!)


 * I do sincerely appreciate your engaging with this in a calm, clear, and helpful manner. I am amazed at how often, and how quickly, discussions on here can go bad. It's so refreshing when one goes well. Thanks. --EightYearBreak (talk) 20:06, 12 November 2019 (UTC)

Making Changes
Hi again,

I am glad to learn that my approach was well-received! And thank you for your equally constructive response.

I agree with your assessment about the natural confusion over the subject of the page given the changing status of the organization/museum building, and also with your suggestion that the page should be changed to be about the Capital Jewish Museum, with a section on the historic building nestled underneath.

Are you still planning to make the changes yourself? I noticed none have been made to the page. I will look into the correct ownership/copyright status for the photo, if that's what has delayed the process. It is not my work, but the "property" of the museum.

Thanks again for your help, and have a lovely week!

CJM Intern (talk) 15:34, 18 November 2019 (UTC)


 * Thanks. No, I wasn't waiting on photo clearance - it's just that I knew I would need time to make these edits (can't really do this kind of change piecemeal), and I didn't have a chance to get to it until today. But I have now re-written the article basically as discussed above. I haven't made any photo changes yet, but thanks for looking into the copyright status. I'm not as well-versed in the particulars of adding potentially copyrighted images, so I may have to look into the policies a little more. --EightYearBreak (talk) 18:06, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

Updated Photo
I have updated the details of the photo.

--CJM Intern (talk) 17:14, 18 November 2019 (UTC)

Address and photo change
Hello again,

I am writing to follow-up on the photo change and to see if the copyright info was sufficient. If not, I am unsure of how to move forward, as the images I am posting are done so with the permission of the museum, and are also displayed publicly on their website, so I am not sure of the additional information I am meant to provide. Might you be able to offer any additional guidance?

On a related note, I am including here another photo of the building at its new location. Additionally, I would like to add that the address written on the Wikipedia page currently is incorrect, as it accompanies a photo of the building on a location from which it is now moved. The correct address for the site of the museum, as shown in the photo here, is 3rd and F Streets NW.

Thanks again for your help,

(Hold tight for the photo)

--CJM Intern (talk) 18:21, 2 December 2019 (UTC)