Wikipedia:Describing points of view

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WP:POV

At Wikipedia, points of view (POV) are often essential to articles which treat controversial subjects. The article should represent the POV of the main scholars and specialists who have produced reliable sources on the issue. The policy does not mean that all the POV of all the Wikipedia editors have to be represented.

In Thought du Jour Harold Geneen has stated: [1]

"The reliability of the person giving you the facts is as important as the facts themselves. Keep in mind that facts are seldom facts, but what people think are facts, heavily tinged with assumptions."

Hard facts are really rare. What we most commonly encounter are opinions from people (POV's). Inherently, because of this, most articles on Wikipedia are full of POVs. An article which clearly, accurately, and fairly describes all the major points of view will, by definition, be in accordance with Wikipedia's official "Neutral Point of View" policy.

Each POV should be clearly labeled and described, so readers know:

  • Who advocates the point of view
  • What their arguments are (supporting evidence, reasoning, etc.)

Contents

[edit] Usage note

Some contributors to Wikipedia misuse the term POV, taking it to be the antithesis of "NPOV", implying that a particular article or passage is affected by an editor's point of view. This is not what the term POV means, and should be avoided. The term they are groping for is "biased".

Recall Larry Sanger's prescription that Wikipedia should describe all major points of view, when treating controversial subjects.

[edit] Biased writing

A Wikipedian contributor might be unaware that his writing is biased, if he harbors (possibly unconscious) assumptions about the popular opinion of one's area, country, culture, language, ethnicity, etc. Generally, this comes out in one of several ways:

  • Writing from your local perspective on non-local pages
  • Excessive assumption of local readership when writing about a topic specific to your locality
  • And, of course, opinion and bias

Of course any article can be "unbalanced" because contributors have more knowledge of, or are more interested in, particular aspects of a subject than in other aspects. This is not "wrong", but making such an article more balanced is encouraged. For example, suppose there is an article about highways that is mostly about the US. A German who encounters this should not complain about Americocentrism, but alter the article to approach the subject from a wider perspective: what can be said about highways in general, that applies worldwide? Begin the article with this, and then discuss the specific variations in different countries.

[edit] Nationalism

Some simple examples:

  • Using the names of seasons to date a particular event, e.g. the album was released in Spring 2001. Seasons happen at different times in different parts of the world.
  • Terms such as overseas, abroad, in this country, or nationwide where no nation is clearly implied
  • An article explaining a law without mentioning where it applies
  • An article about a local custom, such as Thanksgiving, that assumes the reader knows "the basics", such as what it actually is (a national holiday) and when it occurs (I have no idea, I'm British!)
  • An article about Thanksgiving which assumes it is celebrated only in the United States
  • Also, many articles on measurement systems (metric, SI, imperial, US etc.) contain biases based on nationalism.
  • Using the term British English to identify terms that are common to many dialects of English outside the United States

[edit] Assuming the obvious

Something else that you need to watch out for are obvious facts which are not necessarily obvious to people from other areas. Examples include the level of support a political movement has or does not have (and particularly referring to "major parties" in a nation without linking an explanation of which parties these are — which may not be obvious to foreign readers), the names of the movements, demographic facts, geographic facts.

[edit] English language

Also be careful to avoid an English-speaking Point Of View. Although country-specific and similar POVs are often easy to spot, this can be harder to spot.

While there is a strong argument to simply present history and politics in English the way they have always been presented in that language, there's a much stronger argument for sticking to neutral point of view, and avoiding reports of long-standing English cultural assumptions as fact. For one thing there are many people in Ireland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Caribbean nations such as Cayman Islands, etc., who speak English as a first language, who do not share these. In South America, the EU, Russia, India, Japan, China, etc., many people learn English very early, often simultaneously with another tongue. It is simply wrong to believe that everyone reading an article in English will understand UK or US cultural assumptions or find it non-controversial to make certain statements or use certain terms:

  • Vocabulary - Simple English articles are available for those learning, or with poor mastery of, English. In the main English wikipedia, there is still a need to avoid professional jargon and to keep language as simple and direct as the accurate treatment of subject matter permits. Unusual or unfamiliar usages need to be briefly disambiguated: sometimes a single modifier suffices: "The scientist Marie Curie...".
  • Names or dates of conflicts used in English speaking sources sometimes poorly match those used in some other culture; it's critical to get the dates right for the context, and include as many alternative terms as necessary. The extent of this obviously depends on the context of the article. For example, "George VI was King of Britain during World War II (1939–1945)" but "Stalin was head of the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War (World War II) from 1941 to 1945".[2]
  • Assuming that the term "British" includes the peoples of British Colonies.
  • Accounts of conflicts and their outcomes providing the interpretation of the side most English-speaking nations supported.
  • Derogatory accounts of other cultures, especially Islam, India and China. This is particularly prevalent in older sources.
  • Statements that a territory was "discovered" or "settled" when in fact it was visited or colonized. It is better to write "Balboa was the first European to see the Pacific Ocean" than "Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean".

[edit] Other points

Other key points to watch for when adapting material from country-specific sources:

  • Spelling: see Wikipedia:Manual of Style for current recommendations on English spelling.
  • Names of conflicts used in your locality (the US, UK, etc.) may not be the same as those on the list of wars, and may reflect a local viewpoint.
  • Avoid biased comments about other countries. This rule, of course, applies in all directions.
  • Units of measure: Use the units that are most appropriate to the context and, where appropriate, place an alternate form in parenthesis right after the units (for example; an article on a mountain in the United States should have its elevation given in feet with the approximate number of meters given right after). However always use the measured form first and leave the converted form in parentheses (otherwise you are introducing error in the numbers!). The converted form should also not have more significant figures than the measured form (this gives a false impression of precision).

[edit] Other areas where POV comes into play

In addition to language and geographic issues, it is important to avoid other types of assumptions or biases about people. Some examples of biases to avoid are:

  • heteronormativity -- Assuming all people are heterosexual, e.g., assuming that any sexual activity carries a pregnancy risk, assuming that a child lives with parents of different genders, assuming that dating involves people of different genders
  • Referring to people with disabilities using marginalizing terms, such as referring to people as "patients" when not specifically describing the routine of a hospital

A good rule of thumb in avoiding POV is to never refer to someone in a way you would not want to see used to refer to yourself or a loved one. When writing something such as "the park has had a lot of problems with the homeless," consider that these "homeless" are people and would not want to be described this way. An improvement might be something such as "after the park was renovated, park officials began taking steps to show that individuals who were homeless were not welcome there."

[edit] Pseudonyms

Main article: Wikipedia:Avoid weasel words

In articles about works of art, games, TV series and other subjects without estimable values, Wiki editors will often try to pass on POV opinions by writing under a pseudonym (e.g., "some fans think Allan Holdsworth is the greatest guitarist ever"). Unless you can provide a survey, a review or any similar type of source for your praise, it does not belong in a Wikipedia article. The correct way to phrase the sentence about Holdsworth would be: "in 1999, the readers of Jazz Guitarist voted Allan Holdsworth top guitarist of the year" (this is just an example, the magazine does not actually exist).

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Harold Geneen in his "Thought du Jour", cited by Michael Kesterton in The Globe and Mail on February 20th 2006 at page A14 in the Section of Social Studies, sub-section A daily miscellany of information.
  2. ^ Since most readers will be more familiar with the term 'World War II' than 'Great Patriotic War' it is probably better to explain the usage, even in articles about the Soviet Union.
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