User:Doc James/sandbox/RfC

RfC: Should Wikipedia contain video summaries of diseases? And how should they be presented?

Background

Example video on measles

We at WP:MED have been collaborating with the Khan Academy, that split off into a group called Osmosis, since 2013. These efforts have been discussed at least 9 times at WPMED over the last 5 years.(Dec 4, 2013, Aug 28, 2014, Nov 26, 2014, Feb 8, 2015, July 5, 2015 , Dec 24, 2015,Feb 8 2016,Mar 23, 2016, Aug 30, 2017)

The videos they produce provides a basic summary of a medical condition using easy to understand language. They are released under a CC BY SA 4.0 license and uploaded to Commons by members of this group. The initial videos lack references while the most recent videos contain references at the ends of the videos. They are working to up date the older videos with references.

In 2016, scripts for the videos were posted to Wikipedia for feedback from the Wikipedia community before the videos were created. As there was not much feedback from Wikipedians via this platform and due to internal staffing changes at Osmosis this has not occurred recently but there is willingness to reactivate this process and continue accepting feedback from this process.

One can see references at the end of this script as an example. The reference formating is bar urls which can definitely be improved. Unfortunately, the references are not formatted as "inline references" and it is unclear if Osmosis is willing / able to create inline referencing. If the community felt this was critical they would be happy to look at collaborating to see if it can be done. Much of the content, however, is fairly basic in nature. Additionally, these videos are created / reviews by physicians before being made.

The videos also exist on Youtube were they receive positive reviews and millions of views.[1] On Wikipedia the videos have been watched more than 8 million times.[2] Concerns recently raised have included that the intro includes a link to "open.osmosis.org" (the Khan Academy videos do something similar) and end with credits and non functional social media links. If the community feels this attribution of Osmosis is too great they are willing to remove and upload versions without it.

Option 1

Generally keep the videos within medical articles leads unless significant problems are identified with the content in question or they fit better elsewhere. Remove the ones with problems on a case by case basis. Collaborate with Osmosis to fix significant issues when present. Remove the social media links from the videos.

Support

• Support as proposer. A number of surveys of our readers has found a strong interest in us providing rich text including video. Video is, however, slower and more difficult to edit collaboratively and doing will involve a learning curve on both our sides. I am not sure if expecting video to follow all policies and guidelines applied to text is reasonable. Additionally having the videos within our articles allows use to get video content out in offline formats. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 20:33, 28 March 2018 (UTC)

Oppose

Discussion

Option 2

Keep the videos but move them out of the lead to an external links sections.

Support

Oppose

Discussion

Option 3

Delete all the videos.

Support

Oppose

Discussion