PersonalScienceWiki:About

Revision as of 18:49, 18 November 2021 by Gedankenstuecke (talk | contribs) (remove from people category)

The Personal Science Wiki collects information related to "personal science", including: Quantified Self topics and self research.

What content is appropriate?

The purpose of the wiki is to help people engaged in these practices, or interested in learning how to do so. As such, the content remains open-ended as we explore potential content.

Original Research is allowed

Unlike Wikipedia, we believe there must be "original research" that is explicitly included within the domain of "personal science"! Individuals are invited to share their research processes and results.

Exactly what format this "should" take remains a topic of exploration. We invite individuals to document their own work (see Category:People). We also welcome documenting the work that others have shared elsewhere (e.g. on personal blogs or in online forums).

Why a wiki?

Wikis are powerful, flexible tools for creating "consensus information". Individual pages provide structure for understanding a particular topic, and linking to other pages enables

Why not git?

A downside of "git" and similar tools developed for source code management is that they rely on a review and approval process to update the "consensus". That is to say: a potential contributor must submit a requested update, a "pull request", and the maintainer(s) of a repository determine whether that update should be accepted. Wikis enable updates with a much lower bar: in general, anyone can edit. While this makes them more susceptible to negative consequences (e.g. spam content). However this can be mitigated (e.g. via "locked pages", routine oversight and reversions), and is less "dangerous" than the consequences of undesirable code updates.

Who's in charge?

This wiki was developed as an offshoot of conversations in "self research chats", attended by individuals interested in Quantified Self and self research practices. It was initiated as part of research by the Peer-Produced Research Lab. The wiki's server, as well as weekly chats, are hosted by Open Humans Foundation, a 501c3 nonprofit based in the United States.

Governance is not currently highly defined, following a consensus-driven approach within these communities.