User:Mousemambo/Workbench: Difference between revisions

Line 117:

*'''Every Xenharmonic Wiki article should include...'''

**An introductory paragraph or two that:

***Is accessible to the Wiki's not-actually-officially-defined target audience: musicians with at least a basic introduction to music theory. This can be defined as first-semester, college Music Theory 101, but is also commonly introduced to high-school piano, guitar, and jazz musicians.

***Is accessible to the Wiki's not-actually-officially-defined target audience of beginners: musicians with at least a basic introduction to music theory. This can be defined as first-semester, college Music Theory 101, but is also commonly introduced to high-school piano, guitar, and jazz musicians.

***Provides links to beginner and intermediate-level articles on conventional or xenharmonic music theory as needed.

***Clearly places the article's topic into the context of music.

***Presents the purpose of the article in a way that will be understood by someone completely new to the article's concept, with links to articles about concepts that are necessary prerequisites.

***Regardless of the topic (advanced or not), includes absolutely no math theory terminology beyond high school level, unless it is very, very commonly used in Xenharmonic music discussions, and links to/toward beginner-level articles are provided. If no such article exists, omit that terminology from the introduction, and present it later with a redlink to create that article. There are certainly also alternative ways to address the serious Xenharmonic Wiki problem of inaccessible articles that understandably frighten off musicians without a higher math degree. There are occasional paired articles, one for beginners (e.g. [[Mapping]]) and one for advanced readers (e.g. [[Temperament mapping matrices]]) — see [[Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:Beginner|list of beginner pages]]/[[:Category:Beginner pages|Category:Beginner page]]<nowiki/>s, [[Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:Expert|list of expert pages]]/[[:Category:Expert pages|Category:Expert pages]]. This can be an effective approach but requires substantially more work.

**Sections that divide the article into different depths of understanding, i.e. that require the reader to have less or more preexisting understandings. More advanced understandings belong in sections later in the article. This is true even ~~formore~~ advanced articles, because in effective narrative nonfiction writing there is always a progression of understanding. Some possible terms for the non-math/math sectional division (these can be mixed and matched): Elementary/Technical, Basic/Advanced, Fundamental/Detailed.

**Sections that divide the article into different depths of understanding, i.e. that require the reader to have less or more preexisting understandings. More advanced understandings belong in sections later in the article. This is true even for more advanced articles, because in effective narrative nonfiction writing there is always a progression of understanding. Some possible terms for the non-math/math sectional division (these can be mixed and matched): Elementary/Technical, Basic/Advanced, Fundamental/Detailed. Some great examples of presenting complex topics in several levels of understanding can be found the YouTube series [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLibNZv5Zd0dyCoQ6f4pdXUFnpAIlKgm3N 5 Levels], from Wired.

**No list or table without an effective explanation of its contents.

**It might be reasonable to use the [[:Category:Todo|Category:Todo]] tags to mark articles that need a plain-language introductory paragraph. However, there several possible Todo tags that might apply and perhaps should be merged: [[:Category:Todo:add introduction|Todo:add introduction]] or [[:Category:Todo:intro|Todo:intro]] or [[:Category:Todo:improve synopsis|Todo:improve synopsis]]. Does Todo:intro mean something different from Todo:improve synopsis?

**It might be reasonable to use the [[:Category:Todo|Category:Todo]] tags to mark articles that need a plain-language introductory paragraph. However, there several possible Todo tags that might apply and perhaps should be merged: [[:Category:Todo:add introduction|Todo:add introduction]] or [[:Category:Todo:intro|Todo:intro]] or [[:Category:Todo:improve synopsis|Todo:improve synopsis]]. Does Todo:intro mean something different from Todo:improve synopsis? See the discussion at [[Xenharmonic Wiki talk:Things to do#Plain-language writing|Things to do § Plain-language writing]].

**Unfortunately, there are so many Xen Wiki articles that are missing an accessible introduction paragraph that it's hard to know how to begin such a monumental task. As part of a solution to this obstacle, I've put together an outline of specific articles as an "[[User:Mousemambo/Introduction to xenharmonic music terminology|Introduction to xenharmonic music terminology]]" that I believe are foundational for people just starting out in xenharmonic music theory. These articles are a good target set for beginner accessibility and readability improvement.

**Wiki sample/examples (to provide some idea of what kind of improvements would be helpful):

***Consider the first paragraph of the "[[Porcupine family]]" article as of 2023-Sep-06, which never actually states what the "porcupine family" actually is (what's missing: it's a [[Temperament families and clans|temperament family]]). This is not and uncommon problem: "The [[5-limit]] parent [[comma]] for the '''porcupine family''' is [[250/243]], the maximal diesis or porcupine comma. Its [[monzo]] is [1 -5 3⟩, and flipping that yields ⟨⟨3 5 1]] for the [[wedgie]]. This tells us the [[generator]] is a minor whole tone, the [[10/9]] interval, and that three of these add up to a perfect fourth ([[4/3]]), with two more giving the minor sixth ([[8/5]]). In fact, (10/9)3 = 4/3 × 250/243, and (10/9)5 = 8/5 × (250/243)2. [[22edo|3\22]] is a very recommendable generator, and [[Mos scale|mos scales]] of 7, 8 and 15 notes make for some nice scale possibilities."

***The version modified for clarity is: "The porcupine family is the [[rank]]-2 [[Temperament families and clans|family of temperaments]] whose [[5-limit]] parent [[comma]] is [[250/243]], also called the maximal diesis or porcupine comma.¶ Its [[monzo]]...."

*'''Every Xenharmonic Wiki article about a specific tuning''' should ideally include an early section about the advantages (and probably disadvantages too) of that tuning for composing music. Contrast the article [[19edo]] that includes that information, with the article [[31edo]] that doesn't. You can find the missing 31edo info at an outside article, "[https://31et.com/page/why-31-et Why 31-ET?]" Of course when a tuning is newly developed people may not know any compositional advantages or disadvantages. But any tuning that has a fair bit of music written for it is ready to have that evaluative information added. This would greatly aid readers and especially composers who are curious where to start. ~~A place~~ to ~~start~~ might be to use the tag [[:Category:Todo:explain its xenharmonic value|Todo:explain its xenharmonic value]] to mark pages that need this info ~~— but as~~ of ~~2023~~-~~Sep~~-~~07 the only articles with this tag are bios~~.

*'''Every Xenharmonic Wiki article about a specific tuning''' should ideally include an early section about the advantages (and probably disadvantages too) of that tuning for composing music. Contrast the article [[19edo]] that includes that information, with the article [[31edo]] that doesn't. You can find the missing 31edo info at an outside article, "[https://31et.com/page/why-31-et Why 31-ET?]" Of course when a tuning is newly developed people may not know any compositional advantages or disadvantages. But any tuning that has a fair bit of music written for it is ready to have that evaluative information added. This would greatly aid readers and especially composers who are curious where to start. An approach to addressing this wiki issue might be to use the tag [[:Category:Todo:explain its xenharmonic value|Todo:explain its xenharmonic value]] to mark pages that need this info. See the discussion of Category & Template tags at [[Xenharmonic Wiki talk:Things to do#Plain-language writing|Things to do § Plain-language writing]].

==Wiki Toolkit==

@@ Line 117: / Line 117: @@
 *'''Every Xenharmonic Wiki article should include...'''
 **An introductory paragraph or two that:
-***Is accessible to the Wiki's not-actually-officially-defined target audience: musicians with at least a basic introduction to music theory. This can be defined as first-semester, college Music Theory 101, but is also commonly introduced to high-school piano, guitar, and jazz musicians.
+***Is accessible to the Wiki's not-actually-officially-defined target audience of beginners: musicians with at least a basic introduction to music theory. This can be defined as first-semester, college Music Theory 101, but is also commonly introduced to high-school piano, guitar, and jazz musicians.
 ***Provides links to beginner and intermediate-level articles on conventional or xenharmonic music theory as needed.
 ***Clearly places the article's topic into the context of music.
 ***Presents the purpose of the article in a way that will be understood by someone completely new to the article's concept, with links to articles about concepts that are necessary prerequisites.
 ***Regardless of the topic (advanced or not), includes absolutely no math theory terminology beyond high school level, unless it is very, very commonly used in Xenharmonic music discussions, and links to/toward beginner-level articles are provided. If no such article exists, omit that terminology from the introduction, and present it later with a redlink to create that article. There are certainly also alternative ways to address the serious Xenharmonic Wiki problem of inaccessible articles that understandably frighten off musicians without a higher math degree. There are occasional paired articles, one for beginners (e.g. [[Mapping]]) and one for advanced readers (e.g. [[Temperament mapping matrices]]) — see [[Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:Beginner|list of beginner pages]]/[[:Category:Beginner pages|Category:Beginner page]]<nowiki/>s, [[Special:WhatLinksHere/Template:Expert|list of expert pages]]/[[:Category:Expert pages|Category:Expert pages]]. This can be an effective approach but requires substantially more work.
-**Sections that divide the article into different depths of understanding, i.e. that require the reader to have less or more preexisting understandings. More advanced understandings belong in sections later in the article. This is true even formore advanced articles, because in effective narrative nonfiction writing there is always a progression of understanding. Some possible terms for the non-math/math sectional division (these can be mixed and matched): Elementary/Technical, Basic/Advanced, Fundamental/Detailed.
+**Sections that divide the article into different depths of understanding, i.e. that require the reader to have less or more preexisting understandings. More advanced understandings belong in sections later in the article. This is true even for more advanced articles, because in effective narrative nonfiction writing there is always a progression of understanding. Some possible terms for the non-math/math sectional division (these can be mixed and matched): Elementary/Technical, Basic/Advanced, Fundamental/Detailed. Some great examples of presenting complex topics in several levels of understanding can be found the YouTube series [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLibNZv5Zd0dyCoQ6f4pdXUFnpAIlKgm3N 5 Levels], from Wired.
 **No list or table without an effective explanation of its contents.
-**It might be reasonable to use the [[:Category:Todo|Category:Todo]] tags to mark articles that need a plain-language introductory paragraph. However, there several possible Todo tags that might apply and perhaps should be merged: [[:Category:Todo:add introduction|Todo:add introduction]] or [[:Category:Todo:intro|Todo:intro]] or [[:Category:Todo:improve synopsis|Todo:improve synopsis]]. Does Todo:intro mean something different from Todo:improve synopsis?
+**It might be reasonable to use the [[:Category:Todo|Category:Todo]] tags to mark articles that need a plain-language introductory paragraph. However, there several possible Todo tags that might apply and perhaps should be merged: [[:Category:Todo:add introduction|Todo:add introduction]] or [[:Category:Todo:intro|Todo:intro]] or [[:Category:Todo:improve synopsis|Todo:improve synopsis]]. Does Todo:intro mean something different from Todo:improve synopsis? See the discussion at [[Xenharmonic Wiki talk:Things to do#Plain-language writing|Things to do § Plain-language writing]].
 **Unfortunately, there are so many Xen Wiki articles that are missing an accessible introduction paragraph that it's hard to know how to begin such a monumental task. As part of a solution to this obstacle, I've put together an outline of specific articles as an "[[User:Mousemambo/Introduction to xenharmonic music terminology|Introduction to xenharmonic music terminology]]" that I believe are foundational for people just starting out in xenharmonic music theory. These articles are a good target set for beginner accessibility and readability improvement.
 **Wiki sample/examples (to provide some idea of what kind of improvements would be helpful):
 ***Consider the first paragraph of the "[[Porcupine family]]" article as of 2023-Sep-06, which never actually states what the "porcupine family" actually is (what's missing: it's a [[Temperament families and clans|temperament family]]). This is not and uncommon problem: "The [[5-limit]] parent [[comma]] for the '''porcupine family''' is [[250/243]], the maximal diesis or porcupine comma. Its [[monzo]] is [1 -5 3⟩, and flipping that yields ⟨⟨3 5 1]] for the [[wedgie]]. This tells us the [[generator]] is a minor whole tone, the [[10/9]] interval, and that three of these add up to a perfect fourth ([[4/3]]), with two more giving the minor sixth ([[8/5]]). In fact, (10/9)<sup>3</sup> = 4/3 × 250/243, and (10/9)<sup>5</sup> = 8/5 × (250/243)<sup>2</sup>. [[22edo|3\22]] is a very recommendable generator, and [[Mos scale|mos scales]] of 7, 8 and 15 notes make for some nice scale possibilities."
 ***The version modified for clarity is: "The porcupine family is the [[rank]]-2 [[Temperament families and clans|family of temperaments]] whose [[5-limit]] parent [[comma]] is [[250/243]], also called the maximal diesis or porcupine comma.¶ Its [[monzo]]...."
-*'''Every Xenharmonic Wiki article about a specific tuning''' should ideally include an early section about the advantages (and probably disadvantages too) of that tuning for composing music. Contrast the article [[19edo]] that includes that information, with the article [[31edo]] that doesn't. You can find the missing 31edo info at an outside article, "[https://31et.com/page/why-31-et Why 31-ET?]" Of course when a tuning is newly developed people may not know any compositional advantages or disadvantages. But any tuning that has a fair bit of music written for it is ready to have that evaluative information added. This would greatly aid readers and especially composers who are curious where to start. A place to start might be to use the tag [[:Category:Todo:explain its xenharmonic value|Todo:explain its xenharmonic value]] to mark pages that need this info — but as of 2023-Sep-07 the only articles with this tag are bios.
+*'''Every Xenharmonic Wiki article about a specific tuning''' should ideally include an early section about the advantages (and probably disadvantages too) of that tuning for composing music. Contrast the article [[19edo]] that includes that information, with the article [[31edo]] that doesn't. You can find the missing 31edo info at an outside article, "[https://31et.com/page/why-31-et Why 31-ET?]" Of course when a tuning is newly developed people may not know any compositional advantages or disadvantages. But any tuning that has a fair bit of music written for it is ready to have that evaluative information added. This would greatly aid readers and especially composers who are curious where to start. An approach to addressing this wiki issue might be to use the tag [[:Category:Todo:explain its xenharmonic value|Todo:explain its xenharmonic value]] to mark pages that need this info. See the discussion of Category & Template tags at [[Xenharmonic Wiki talk:Things to do#Plain-language writing|Things to do § Plain-language writing]].
 ==Wiki Toolkit==