Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2011-08-22/WikiProject report



This week, we turn our attention to WikiProject Animation. Started in September 2006 by Klingoncowboy4, the Project covers all articles about animation, including animation studios, animators, animation directors, animated television series, animated films, animated characters and so on. It does not cover any anime series or films. Home to more than 15,800 articles, with 44 Featured articles, 31 Featured lists, 4 Featured media, 473 Good articles, and a portal, the Project has 19 participants and 18 work groups. The Signpost interviewed Project member Jj98.

Tell us a bit about yourself, and what motivated you to become a member of WikiProject Animation?
 * Jj98: Well, I've been Project member since 2010. I have been interested animation since then, when I began studying on the History of Animation book and around the internet like Big Cartoon Database, Don Markstein's Toonopedia, Animation World Network and Animated Divots. When I was child, I used to watch Rugrats, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Doug, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters and Rocko's Modern Life. After Nicktoons began airing in 1991 by Nickelodeon (before Cartoon Network was launched in 1992), I used to watch some original series like Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, The Powerpuff Girls, Ed, Edd n Eddy, Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Samurai Jack and Codename: Kids Next Door. Also, I used to watch Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry cartoons before the television era in the late 1950s, and adult oriented animated series like The Simpsons, South Park and Family Guy. Animation is an art from – a rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions, in order to create an illusion of movement, and had been very important in the early 20th Century, before anime gained popularity after World War II in Japan and the US. Cartoons are also art like comics. Also, computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics, like Toy Story. Personally, I like Nicktoons myself over Cartoon Network. There some animated series based on comics like Garfield and Dilbert, which are based on the comic strip, and Superman and Batman, which are DC Comics characters. Marvel Comics also has a Marvel animated universe in Spider-Man, X-Men, The Avengers, Captain America, The Incredible Hulk and Fantastic Four. Some of the media franchises have adapted films like Star Trek, Star Wars and Stargate into animated series. There are also two Doctor Who animated serials – The Infinite Quest and Dreamland – that were produced and aired on BBC in 2007 and 2009.

'''Your Project has over 15,800 articles associated with it. How does the Project keep all these up to standard, and what are its biggest challenges?'''
 * Jj98: Our biggest challenge is that fans of animated series and films who come to Wikipedia, whose intimate knowledge of certain subjects are critically important and welcome, tend to treat articles as fan sites, filling them with minutiae and fictography of interest only to hardcore fans and not the general public. The goal is to acquire some of the inactive animation-related WikiProjects and convert them into work groups of WikiProject Animation, including WikiProject Cartoon Network, which was started back in 2007 by Driveus [which] I've converted into a work group after it went inactive back in 2008 and had one Mfd in March, along with the Style recommendations, including Adult Swim, Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Ben 10 task forces which I also converted into work groups as well. WP:TOON was originally a shortcut for WikiProject Cartoon Network, is now a shortcut for our Project. Also, I've converted WikiProject American Animation into American animation work group, which has 4,540 articles. It was started back in 2006 by FuriousFreddy, before I converted it into a work group in November 2010. I am going to possibly convert WikiProject The Simpsons, WikiProject Futurama, WikiProject South Park, WikiProject Family Guy, WikiProject Machinima (although it had been very inactive and had attempts to make into a task force of WikiProject Video games), SpongeBob SquarePants task force and Avatar: The Last Airbender task force into work groups of WikiProject Animation in near future if the Project has been overlapped with our Project and [has] low activity. The problem with the Project is keeping it active like WikiProject Anime and manga and WikiProject United States. Many of the editors who are blocked and no longer working around any animation articles on Wikipedia are moved to the inactive list. Sadly, our founder, Klingoncowboy4 is no longer active since I've revamped the Project.

'''WikiProject Animation has a very respectable number of Featured content, and 477 Good articles. How did your Project achieve this and how can other Projects work toward this?'''
 * Jj98: We do have a nucleus of editors who are responsibly editing some animation-related articles that have achieved Good article and Featured article like Phineas and Ferb, which had been listed as a Good article since 2009, and Joseph Barbera was promoted to a Featured article back in 2008. Our goal is to reduce any fan site mentality that will reduce the fatigue of any current editors. Our Project is intended to model after WikiProject Film, WikiProject United States, WikiProject Military history, WikiProject Comics and WikiProject Anime and manga. The Project has medium activity, like WikiProject Anime and manga, which is a very active Project.

Does WP:TOON collaborate with other WikiProjects?
 * Jj98: Well, we do share with WikiProject Biography, WikiProject Television, WikiProject Film, WikiProject Comics, WikiProject Comedy, WikiProject Companies and WikiProject Fictional characters to help out any animators, animated television, series, characters, films and animation studios. We also do collaborate some child Projects like WikiProject Anime and manga, WikiProject Disney, WikiProject Nickelodeon, WikiProject The Simpsons, WikiProject Futurama, WikiProject South Park, WikiProject Family Guy, WikiProject G.I. Joe and WikiProject Transformers. Unfortunately, there is no WikiProject Cartoon or WikiProject Fiction, although we have the Manual of Style (writing about fiction) to remove any in-universe speculation.

How does your Project manage the Animation portal?
 * Jj98: I've managed the portal around here myself since it got many hits back in July. We have 59 selected high quality articles and 31 selected pictures, 15 selected biographies, 5 selected quotes and 10 selected lists. Our goal is to have the Animation portal [reach] Featured portal standard like The Simpsons portal. I've modeled this portal after Portal:Comics and Portal:Anime and Manga, which had big hits.

'''What are the most pressing needs for WikiProject Animation? How can a new contributor help today?'''
 * Jj98: The former, to reduce any fancruft, ORs, copyvios and in-universe information that's been creeping around the articles. We have our own Manual of Style guidelines to guide editors who work on animation articles. In the future, I will propose a new official Manual of Style guideline for animation-related articles, similar to anime and manga, film, comics, television and fiction guidelines.

Anything else to add?
 * Jj98: Well, I would love to see new members [who would] learn the Five Pillars and get the Project going like WikiProject United States and WikiProject Veterinary medicine, and have opportunities around the Project. I don't want to see the Project go bust like WikiProject Companies, which has been semi-active since 2010. I would also love to see Anime, SpongeBob SquarePants, South Park, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Futurama, Pixar, Toy Story, The Ren & Stimpy Show, The Fairly OddParents, Rocko's Modern Life, Avatar: The Last Airbender gain Featured article quality standards.

Next week, it will be 30–love with your turn to serve. Keep track of all the points, sets, games, and matches in the archive.