Babel Series: GOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!: This week, we continued our exploration of other language editions of Wikipedia by visiting the Spanish Wikipedia's Wikiproyecto Fútbol (WikiProject Football).
This week, we continued our exploration of other language editions of Wikipedia by visiting the Spanish Wikipedia's Wikiproyecto Fútbol (WikiProject Football). Started in February 2004, the project has grown to include 23 Featured Articles and 115 Good Articles covering the clubs, players, competitions, and sport in general. The project maintains a very active talk page, a to do list, a manual of style, and a category of football articles to be wikified. We interviewed NZF.
What motivated you to join Wikiproyecto Fútbol? Are you a fan of a particular team? Have you contributed to any of the project's Featured or Good Articles?
NZF: I do not remember very well, but I think they invited me and I accepted without hesitation. I'm a fan of the Argentine club Rosario Central but in Wikipedia I focus on football in Oceania, and in this regard my favorites are the New Zealand teams Waitakere United and Wellington Phoenix FC. My biggest contribution to Wikipedia and the WikiProject Football was raising Oceania Football Confederation to Good article status.
Are there some teams that have better encyclopedic coverage than others? Are all parts of the Spanish-speaking world represented on the Spanish Wikipedia?
NZF: Yes, and it is very noticeable. When I began to create articles for clubs, I remember Oceania had just 5 or 6 articles, and they were quite poor. In general, clubs outside European and Spanish-speaking countries have poor coverage, are outdated, incomplete or poorly written. However, all the clubs in Spanish-speaking countries are well covered, especially for Spain and Argentina.
How does the activity at WikiProject Football compare to other sports projects on the Spanish Wikipedia? Does WikiProject Football collaborate with any Spanish-language WikiProjects?
NZF: If it's not the most active WikiProject in the Spanish Wikipedia, it is pretty close. A lot of people like football and most of us in the Spanish Wikipedia want the best coverage for our club or favorite team. We often collaborate with the respective countries' WikiProjects, but especially with the Wikiproyecto Estadios (WikiProject Stadiums).
How does the Spanish Wikipedia's coverage of football differ from other language editions of Wikipedia? Do you ever translate material from other languages to improve articles on the Spanish Wikipedia?
NZF: The English Wikipedia has translated content from many of my articles and there is excellent coverage, all clubs have articles and rarely they are outdated or incomplete. In the Spanish Wikipedia there is a very noticeable Hispanocentrism and Eurocentrism — articles on teams in Brazil, Africa, Asia and Oceania are scarce and of poor quality. Since I started editing on the Oceania Football Confederation, I came across only one other user willing to create articles — only one in almost two years! However, when asking for help to improve an article of a Mexican club, for instance, many stakeholders work together. When Tahiti played the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, the article was edited almost every 3 or 4 hours by an interested party that wanted to clarify who they would face or that they had been thrashed by Spain and Uruguay, ignoring the rest of the article. Obviously, when the Confederations Cup finished all these "interested" editors made no further edits — because obviously what interests them over in Fiji, Tahiti, New Caledonia, Vanuatu or New Zealand?
How difficult has it been to acquire images for football articles? Are there any subjects that could be easily photographed if you knew a Wikipedia editor in a particular country?
NZF: It's almost impossible to get images for the aspects of football that I edit: Oceania. However, it is very easy to get images of players from playing in Spanish-speaking countries, there is always someone who lives there and is willing to photograph and upload those photos.
What are the project's most urgent needs? How can contributors from the English Wikipedia help the Spanish WikiProject Football?
NZF: Eliminate Hispanocentrism and Eurocentrism. Maybe the article Liga de Campeones de la UEFA (UEFA Champions League) has perfect coverage, but the Champions League AFC (AFC Champions League) is poorly covered because there is noone interested in editing. I think the only thing that there are articles in each edition of this competition is because they participate in the FIFA Club World Cup, where teams usually play Hispanic countries and European clubs. One place where I think the English Wikipedians could be helpful is in the articles of English clubs, most are short articles full of mistranslations and poor content.
Next week, we'll revisit a philanthropic band of Dubliners. Until then, rock out in the archive.
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