Wikibooks: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Free resource library of books}}

{{Primary sources|date=October 2021}}

{{Infobox website

| name = Wikibooks

| logo = [[File:Wikibooks-logo-en.svg|135px|Wikibooks logo from 2009 to the present]]

| screenshot = Wikibooks 2024.png

| screenshot = [[File:Wikibooks honepage screenshot en 2023.png |250px|border|Detail of the Wikibooks main page. All major Wikibooks projects are listed by number of articles.]]

| collapsible = yes

| caption = Screenshot of wikibooks.org home page

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| launch_date = {{start date and age|2003|07|10}}

| current_status = Active

}}

}}'''Wikibooks''' (previously called ''Wikimedia Free Textbook Project'' and ''Wikimedia-Textbooks'') is a wiki-based Wikimedia project hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation for the creation of free content digital textbooks and annotated texts that anyone can edit.

[[File:Wikibooks growth.png|thumb|right|Growth of the eight largest Wikibooks sites (by language), July 2003–January 2010]]

}}'''Wikibooks''' (previously called ''Wikimedia Free Textbook Project'' and ''Wikimedia-Textbooks'') is a [[wiki]]-based [[Wikimedia project]] hosted by the [[Wikimedia Foundation]] for the creation of [[free content]] [[digital textbookstextbook]]s and annotated texts that anyone can edit.

Initially, the project was created solely in English in July 2003; a later expansion to include additional languages was started in July 2004. As of {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}}, there are Wikibooks sites active for {{NUMBEROF|active|wikibooks}} languages comprising a total of {{NUMBEROF|articles|totalactive.wikibooks|N}} articles and {{NUMBEROF|activeusers|totalactive.wikibooks|N}} recently active editors.

Initially, the project was created solely in English in July 2003; a later expansion to include additional [[language]]s was started in July 2004.<ref name="WikiStats">{{cite web | url=https://stats.wikimedia.org/wikibooks/EN/TablesArticlesTotal.htm | title=Wikibooks Statistics - Article count (official) | publisher=Wikimedia | access-date=28 January 2018 | archive-date=14 April 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190414141656/https://stats.wikimedia.org/wikibooks/EN/TablesArticlesTotal.htm | url-status=live }}</ref> As of {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}}, there are Wikibooks sites active for {{NUMBEROF|active|wikibooks}} languages<ref name="Sitematrix">[[Wikimedia]]'s [[MediaWiki]] [[:mw:API:Sitematrix|API:Sitematrix]]. Retrieved {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} from [[:c:Data:Wikipedia statistics/meta.tab|Data:Wikipedia statistics/meta.tab]]</ref> comprising a total of {{NUMBEROF|articles|totalactive.wikibooks|N}} articles and {{NUMBEROF|activeusers|totalactive.wikibooks|N}} recently active editors.<ref name="Siteinfo">[[Wikimedia]]'s [[MediaWiki]] [[:mw:API:Siteinfo|API:Siteinfo]]. Retrieved {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} from [[:c:Data:Wikipedia statistics/data.tab|Data:Wikipedia statistics/data.tab]]</ref> At primary stages it was called ''Wikimedia Free Textbook Project'' and ''Wikimedia-Textbooks''.

== History ==

The wikibooks.org ___domain was registered on July 19, 2003.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wikibooks.org Whois Record|url=http://whois.domaintools.com/wikibooks.org|publisher=DomainTools, LLC|access-date=22 January 2013|archive-date=23 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220123190604/https://whois.domaintools.com/wikibooks.org|url-status=live}}</ref> It was launched to host and build free textbooks on subjects such as [[organic chemistry]] and [[physics]], in response to a request by Wikipedia contributor Karl Wick.<ref>{{cite web|title=Talk:Science Hypertextbook project|work=Wikimedia Meta-Wiki|publisher=Wikimedia Foundation|date=June 23, 2003|accessdate=October 1, 2022|url=https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:PermanentLink/153077}}</ref><ref>{{cite mailing list|title=a spot for WP textbook devel|first=Karl|last=Wick|mailing-list=[e-mail]|publisher=Wikimedia Foundation|date=June 17, 2003|accessdate=October 1, 2022|url=https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/[e-mail]/thread/CYNWNQMHZTBDWXLJEGEARN3AAQAP2V4L/}}</ref> TwoThree major sub-projects, Wikijunior, Cookbook and [[Wikiversity]], were created within Wikibooks before its official policy was later changed so that future incubator-type projects are started according to the Wikimedia Foundation's new project policy.{{clarify|date=May 2022}}

In August 2006, Wikiversity became an independent Wikimedia Foundation project.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/14633/wikipedia-now-serving-k-12-and-over|title=Wikipedia, now serving K-12 and over|date=2006-08-04|website=Mental Floss |language=en|access-date=2019-09-28|archive-date=2019-09-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190928193247/http://mentalfloss.com/article/14633/wikipedia-now-serving-k-12-and-over|url-status=dead }}</ref>

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== Book content ==

[[File:Development of "Mathe für Nicht-Freaks" from Sep 2009 to June 2016.webm|thumb|Visualization of the development in the German Wikibook project [[b:de:Mathe für Nicht-Freaks|Mathe für Nicht-Freaks]]]]

While some books are original, others began as text copied over from other sources of free content textbooks found on the Internet. All of the site's content is released under a [[Creative Commons Attribution-Share AlikeShareAlike]] license (or a compatible license). This means that, as with its sister project, Wikipedia, contributions remain copyrighted to their creators, while the licensing ensures that it can be freely distributed and reused subject to certain conditions.

[[File:Wikibooks structure.svg|thumb|How English Wikibooks is structured]]

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== Multilingual statistics ==

As of {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}}, there are Wikibooks sites for {{NUMBEROF|languages|wikibooks}} languages of which {{NUMBEROF|active|wikibooks}} are active and {{NUMBEROF|closed|wikibooks}} are closed.<ref name="Sitematrix">[[Wikimedia]]'s [[MediaWiki]] [[mediawikiwiki:API:Sitematrix|API:Sitematrix]]. Retrieved {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} from [[commons:Data:Wikipedia statistics/meta.tab|Data:Wikipedia statistics/meta.tab]]</ref> The active sites have {{NUMBEROF|articles|totalactive.wikibooks|N}} articles and the closed sites have {{NUMBEROF|articles|totalclosed.wikibooks|N}} articles.<ref name="Siteinfo">[[Wikimedia]]'s [[MediaWiki]] [[mediawikiwiki:API:Siteinfo|API:Siteinfo]]. Retrieved {{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}} from [[commons:Data:Wikipedia statistics/data.tab|Data:Wikipedia statistics/data.tab]]</ref> There are {{NUMBEROF|users|totalactive.wikibooks|N}} registered users of which {{NUMBEROF|activeusers|totalactive.wikibooks|N}} are recently active.<ref name="Siteinfo" />

The top ten Wikibooks language projects by mainspace article count:<ref name="Siteinfo" />

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== Reception ==

Meng-Fen et al suggested that while there isn't much social connection between contributors of wikibooks, the contributors had no major issues coordinating to write books.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Wikibooks and Wikibookians: Loosely Coupled Community or a Choice for Future Textbooks? |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5744067 |access-date=2024-03-14 |journal=IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies| date=October 2011 | volume=4 | issue=4 | pages=327–339 | doi=10.1109/TLT.2011.12 | last1=Lin | first1=Meng-Fen Grace | last2=Sajjapanroj | first2=Suthiporn | last3=Bonk | first3=Curtis J. |bibcode=2011ITLT....4..327L }}</ref>

== See also ==

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* [[Project Gutenberg]]

* [[Universal library]]

* [[b:Wikibooks:What is Wikibooks?|What is Wikibooks?]] (Wikibooks)

* [[v:Wikibooks|Wikibooks]] (Wikiversity)

* [[WikiToLearn]]

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* [[m:Wikibooks|Wikibooks page on Meta-Wiki]]

* [https://www.cnet.com/news/wikibooks-takes-on-textbook-industry/ Wikibooks takes on textbook industry]

* [[b:Wikibooks:What is Wikibooks?|What is Wikibooks?]] (Wikibooks)

* [[v:Wikibooks|Wikibooks]] (Wikiversity)

{{Wikimedia Foundation}}