Wikinews:Water cooler/assistance/archives/2012/April

Labor Department Honors Farmworkers and Cesar Chavez
Can someone please help? I think the article is neutrally written and well sourced.Labor reporter (talk) 21:25, 1 April 2012 (UTC)

Maps
Does anybody know why "Template:Location map" works in Wikipedia but not in Wikinews? I want to put a pin on a map. Specifically, I want to put a pin for "Mpila" on its location in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. Crtew (talk) 03:13, 26 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Licensing, presumably. Remember, our license is more permissive than Wikipedia's, and consequently we (basically) cannot import stuff from Wikipedia because it would violate the conditions of copyright on the material we imported.  The documentation for our version of that template notes someone was attempting, long ago, to get permission from the copyright holders, and since it still says that presumably they never did succeed.  I think I've seen folk, in recent times, use a derivative image generated from the map by adding a pin in suitable location.  --Pi zero (talk) 03:23, 26 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Honestly, I didn't understand the last half of the last sentence. Hahaha .... Can anybody translate this -- "a derivative image generated from the map by adding a pin in suitable location" -- into plain folks' speech? Crtew (talk) 04:20, 26 March 2012 (UTC)
 * I could have a go, but I'm worried about the only way of doing it would go too far the other way - make it sound condescending. Blood Red Sandman  (Talk)   (Contribs) 12:41, 26 March 2012 (UTC)
 * The template, as I understand it, superimposes a pin on top of the image; the pin isn't actually part of the image. Alternatively, one could create a new image by modifying the original map image &mdash;making this new image a derivative work&mdash; with the pin actually being part of this new, derivative image.  (If that helps.)  --Pi zero (talk) 13:30, 26 March 2012 (UTC)


 * It's been done so often, that there's nothing wrong pulling a Wikipedia template. As long as the different license for the markup/code is noted, not a problem. What's a (potential) problem is if the map we auto-generate a derivative of is not under a libre license. --Brian McNeil / talk 13:40, 26 March 2012 (UTC)

OpenStreetMap My ultimate and dream solution would be to embed an openstreetmap in much the way I would a Google Map, but with all of the tools that Google Maps provides, like a pin, trail and polygon shape for emphasis. The embed code allows people to place the code anywhere on the web but it refers to Google. I've not been able to see how that could be done with openstreet map.Crtew (talk) 13:43, 26 March 2012 (UTC)
 * There's been a couple of the StreetMap guys popped along to one of the Edinburgh Wikimeets. They're fairly approachable, I see no reason why they couldn't help out with some pointers on API/templating. Of course, for me at the moment I don't have email addresses to hand. --Brian McNeil / talk 13:52, 26 March 2012 (UTC)
 * The street tiles are really ugly though. The only way I've seen this done is with MapBox. theMONO 16:59, 4 April 2012 (UTC)
 * The change in the OpenStreetMap license takes effect today and so will that bring MapBox into sync with Wikinew's use of creative commons?Crtew (talk) 17:25, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

Mapbox Could somebody who is more knowledgeable on the license at Wikinews advise us about whether we can use Mapbox in a story? The license of OpenStreetMap just changed. Mapbox is based on that, but it has its own license. Then there is the Wikinews Creative Commons license. Thank you, Crtew (talk) 17:01, 8 April 2012 (UTC)

Journalism challenges for the community!
I've been here a short while, but I have learned that Wikinewsies are curious, informed, global, and disciplined citizen journalists. You may like these three challenges, which I have modeled on my Contributions page, and I call them the "Topics challenge," "Regions challenge," based on the topics and regions list on our front page, as well as the "Media challenge," which is about the tools used to tell the stories. The challenge is to contribute content for every category and keep track as you go. I've tried to keep the rules simple:

Topics challenge: I will write at least one article in each topic area, place the "Done" template when completed, and recommend one or possibly more articles credited to me in the category. Recommended articles are ordered from new to old. No article will be listed in multiple categories, and the chosen category for the article should be immediately intuitive.

✅
 * Crime and law ❌
 * Culture and entertainment ❌
 * Disasters and accidents ❌
 * Economy and business ❌
 * Education ❌
 * Environment ❌
 * Health ❌
 * Obituaries ❌
 * Politics and conflicts ❌
 * Science and technology ❌
 * Sports ❌
 * Wacky news ❌
 * Weather ❌

Regions challenge Using similar guidelines as the "Topics challenge" above, I will write at least one article about each region of the world, as well as one article that is global (world issue, specifically adresses multiple countries, the poles or oceans). All articles listed must be outside of my native country, which for me is ...

✅
 * Africa ❌
 * North America ❌
 * South America ❌
 * Asia ❌
 * Europe ❌
 * Middle East ❌
 * Oceania ❌
 * Global ❌

Media challenge: Similar to the above guidelines, but I will use a variety of tools to tell interesting stories and provide context and perspective to the facts. I will document my sources for each use below in my reporter's notes on the talk page of the article for transparency. ✅
 * Conduct a Q & A interview ❌
 * Interview one expert source and one affected person in a story ❌
 * Use primary source documents to tell a story and supplement with an interview ❌
 * Include human observation in a story where you have also conducted an interview ❌ Note: Your own observation is considered primary. Observations from others is sourced and called secondary. Both should be documented in your notes.
 * Photo story ❌ Note: You can either take the photos or you can retrieve them from a reliable source while strictly observing copyright.
 * Audio ❌
 * Video ❌
 * Create an infobox ❌
 * Create an infographic from sourced data ❌
 * Create a diagram ❌
 * Use a map ❌
 * Make a timeline ❌
 * Use a spreadsheet to analyze data from a primary source and supplement with an interview ❌
 * Apply your country's rules to access data from public institutions ❌

Perhaps we can create an awards wall (a page) and whoever finishes can list the username upon successful completion of each category, as well as award a badge! Any volunteers for these two tasks? It's not a race; work at your own speed. Tackle it in your own way: No need to be thorough (one article is all you need). But if you want, use it to pursue new reporting ground, even within categories! Work outside of your comfort zone and do something you haven't done before! The spirit of the challenge is to stretch yourself and have fun! Crtew (talk) 03:23, 10 April 2012 (UTC)


 * This is awesome. Blood Red Sandman  (Talk)   (Contribs) 20:11, 17 April 2012 (UTC)