The TV IV

The TV IV
URL tviv.org
Slogan "A compendium of television knowledge anyone can edit."
Type of site Television compendium wiki
Registration Required to edit
Available language(s) English
Launched July 2005
Current status Active

The TV IV is a MediaWiki-powered website that was launched in July 2005 as a response to TV Tome becoming TV.com.[1] It is in the top thirty wikis on the web in both size and views.[2] Because English-speaking users generate the website, the content is primarily on English-language television programs, but all content is welcome.

Contents

Features

The TV IV has articles on all aspects of television with the major emphasis on programs. The site has no notability requirements and allows articles to be created for any program, episode, character, or aspect of a program, making it an often listed alternative to Wikipedia for information that doesn't fit Wikipedia's requirements. As of August 2008, it has over 3,500 program articles.[3]

Another major focus is American-program scheduling and DVD releases. The TV IV's main page includes a listing of all new programs airing in the USA over the next two days and all TV DVDs being released on the following Tuesday as well as links to archives of both these data sets going back through 2006. In addition to the front page information the site includes current programming grids for both broadcast and cable networks and highly detailed future schedule grids for the broadcast networks. It also has historic primetime schedule grids going back to the beginnings of network television.[4]

Due to its semi-narrow focus and not needing to adhere to a rigid database structure The TV IV is able to easily accommodate more trivial pages that couldn't easily be placed (or are unwelcome) on many other reference sites.[5] In fact some of the wiki's most viewed pages are these non-traditional reference pages that work well in the wiki format such as music lists and timelines.

Reception

The TV IV has been hailed as a good use of a wiki format due to the large but specific topic and the potentially large fan base to draw from.[6][7] It has also been touted as a good alternative to other Flash-heavy TV reference sites such as tv.com.[8]

IVy Awards

Since 2006, the TV IV has been awarding The IVy Awards winners have included: Hugh Laurie, Kristen Bell, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Edie Falco, Jason Bateman, Patrick Stewart, Sarah Chalke, Summer Glau and Will Arnett.

References

  1. ^ TV IV contributors. "The TV IV:About". The TV IV. http://tviv.org/The_TV_IV:About. Retrieved March 22, 2008. 
  2. ^ "List of largest wikis". Meta-Wiki. Wikimedia. http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_wikis. Retrieved August 13, 2008. 
  3. ^ TV IV contributors. "Category:Program". The TV IV. http://tviv.org/Category:Program. Retrieved 2008-08-14. 
  4. ^ TV IV contributors. "Category:Grids". The TV IV. http://tviv.org/Category:Grids. Retrieved 2008-08-14. 
  5. ^ Matheson, Whitney (2006-10-26). "Keeping track of Earl's karma". USA Today. http://blogs.usatoday.com/popcandy/2006/10/keeping_track_o.html. Retrieved 2008-08-14. 
  6. ^ Rodriguez, Giovanni. "#20 -- The TV IV -- Survival by Wiki". 33 Wikis. Eastwick Communications. http://eastwikkers.typepad.com/eastwikkers_/2006/04/33_wikis_20_the.html. Retrieved August 13, 2008. 
  7. ^ Glaser, Mark. "#Your Guide to Wikis". Mediashift. pbs.org. http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2006/11/digging_deeperyour_guide_to_wi.html. Retrieved August 13, 2008. 
  8. ^ ScuttleMonkey. "A New Replacement for TV Tome". Slashdot. SourceForge. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/09/12/2321222. Retrieved August 13, 2008. 

External links