Wikipedia talk:GLAM/National Archives and Records Administration/Today's Document challenge

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Liking it[edit]

Yes, I like the idea. The potential scope is very broad, though, so I do not have a grasp on what kinds of documents might be available. Any hints? Binksternet (talk) 15:15, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The National Archives has an immense collection, some of which may be surprising. Obviously, most documents will relate in some way to American history, but, as you say, that's a broad category. Try perusing their catalog at [1] to get an idea of what you could use; you can limit the search to digitized items. Dominic·t 15:48, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Where can I find a queue of images that are being readied for future display at "Today's Document"? Binksternet (talk) 16:11, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Good question. It's not a secret, but right now you can only see them by clicking through to future dates from the "Tomorrow's document" link at the bottom of [2] (and repeating), or you can manually change the URL (for example, http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc/index.html?dod-date=601 is June 1 and http://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc/index.html?dod-date=823 is August 23). I'll work on putting up a more usable index on Wikipedia, though. Dominic·t 16:17, 31 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, I put up an index at Wikipedia:GLAM/NARA/Today's Document challenge/Index. It's nothing pretty, but hopefully it's workable. Dominic·t 16:51, 1 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Beauty is the eyes, etc. I think your index is very useful! Binksternet (talk) 18:41, 1 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The new article got about 600 hits while on the Main page, a very mild showing. The image itself got about 1800 hits; somewhat better! Put in perspective, a very sensational image at DYK can collect tens of thousands of hits. Binksternet (talk) 22:59, 3 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I was just looking at these, actually. And don't worry, your (awesome) article actually got over 13,000 views. Dominic·t 23:21, 3 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Aha! That pesky little preposition. :D

Binksternet (talk) 01:25, 4 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Notability presumption[edit]

It seems to be self-evident, so to speak, that selection as Document of the Day evidences notability and it should be taken as a guideline status presumption that any such document is Notable in the Wikipedia-inclusion-criteria sense. That presumption can be subject to rebuttal, but the burden of proof should be against any challenge to notability, not the other way around. GeoBard^Rap 20:37, 22 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I would rather not make any assumptions like that, actually. It is up to each Wikipedian to make their own best judgments based on Wikipedia policy. I would say that documents are selected because they are interesting or important in some way, but they are often themselves not notable. However, I believe it is a safe bet that any chosen document for Today's document can be used for this challenge, whether that means the the document is a subject of an article, an important source for article, or an important illustration for an article. The one article written in conjunction with this project had to do with a military portrait of the first black Marine recruit. The article was about desegregation in the United States Marine Corps, not that actual portrait as a document, and that's just fine. Compare today's document, the GI Bill, with yesterday's, a photo of a community folk concert in New York in the 1970s. The former is easily notable, but the latter, while striking and informational, requires a little more creativity to give it a proper home at Wikipedia. Dominic·t 20:53, 22 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]