Wikipedia:WikiProject Spoken Wikipedia

The WikiProject Spoken Wikipedia aims to produce recordings of Wikipedia articles being read aloud. See Spoken articles for articles that have already been recorded, and Requests for instructions on how to request a recording of a particular article.

How to create a spoken article

1. Choose an article
2. Record
3. Upload
4. Add to article
5. Add to Spoken articles list

Benefits

Some people wonder why creating spoken recordings of articles is worthwhile, so a quick discussion of the unique benefits is in order.

• Spoken articles make Wikipedia content available to those who can understand English but cannot read.
• Users can listen to Wikipedia articles while they perform tasks that preclude reading but not concentration (such as biking, running, doing housework, etc.). It is presently difficult to find high-quality audio content that entertains and educates like spoken featured articles do.
• Visually-impaired users can use screen readers, of course, but with current technology, they may not be as accurate as a human vocal performance. This is particularly true of articles relating to science, mathematics, linguistics, and other areas where unusual pronunciation or symbols are prevalent.
• They are a valuable learning tool for non-native English speakers and those that don't speak it at all. Having a large number of examples of how words are pronounced can be important. In addition, being able to hear how words are pronounced and read them at the same time offers two simultaneous learning styles, auditory and visual, for potentially faster learning.
• Some may find it easier to concentrate on reading an article while listening to it, especially in an environment with distracting sounds (with the use of headphones).
• In performing the articles aloud, readers end up catching inconsistencies, redundancies, and awkward phrases that might have been missed by other editors. In this way, the written version of Wikipedia improves.

Problems

However, the project does have some difficulties and drawbacks that one should be aware of:

• It's difficult to keep the spoken version of the articles up to date.
• Recording and editing articles can be time-consuming, and recordings are sometimes abandoned or have their source text dramatically changed before they are finished.
• Incorrect pronunciation can mislead non-English-speaking users.

Solution suggestions

Text to voice is an area of computer technology with many current and future possibilities:

• The future addition of a conversion button on each wiki page to turn text into an ogg would give access to all pages.
• Many current real-time text-to-voice programmes have free trial versions that can be used with the copy-and-paste function to read any page. Alternatively the free Opera web browser allows real time text-to-voice conversion of web pages, in addition to voice command of the browser itself.
• Phones that text a word to Wikipedia and receive an audio file in return will give instant mobile access to the content in audio form.
• The web-based Pediaphon service uses speech synthesis to generate MP3 audio files and podcasts from all english and german language Wikipedia articles.
• Use of Youtube to augment text-only articles provides another option for users of Wikipedia.
• Use of multiple software to take book text into audio visual. Using text-to-voice and moviemaker software and also a web provider is demonstrated at the the bottom of the page of Treaty of Waitangi under audio visual.

In progress

The following articles have been recorded and are in the editing phase. This list is maintained to prevent duplicate recordings, and in case a page is recorded but is forgotten about. If an article has been on this list for several weeks the user may have become too busy for the project, and you may wish to offer to edit the recordings for them.

Article	Date	User
Congress of the United States	2005-08-15	Mm35173 (t)
Portuguese language	2005-08-23	Gameiro (t)
The West Wing (television)	2005-12-07	Rebelguys2 (t)
Omnipotence paradox	2006-01-08	William Morgan (t)
Bicycle	2006-01-10	CyclePat (t)
Margin of error	2006-01-16	Athf1234 (t)
Columbine High School massacre parts 2 and 3	2006-05-24	Ckamaeleon (t)
Three Laws of Robotics	2006-02-05	TheSwami (t)
Widespread Panic	2006-03-02	User:m4bwav (t)
Sun	2006-03-15	User:Ignignot (t)
Gold standard	2006-04-15	User:IceKarma (t)
Islam	2006-04-23	User:Jibran1 (t)
Krazy Kat	2006-05-27	snodawg (t)
Cheers	2006-06-21	Jboyle4eva (t)
Blindness	2006-06-26	CMat (t)
Spanish writing system & related	2006-07-08	Moulder (t)
Cat	2006-08-18	Wishkres (t)
ITV	2006-08-18	Lee Stanley (t)
BBC	2005-08-20	Leighlast (t)
Omnipotence_Paradox	2006-11-01	Ad-Absurdum (t)

Active participants

Place your current project after your name. Consider putting a list of your audio contributions somewhere too. Several project members have submitted userbox designs. If you want, you may add one to your list of userboxes. The code for the default version is: {{user WikiProject Spoken Wikipedia}}.

• Me Scott (talk · contribs) - Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp currently in production for July 9th 2006.
• Adaru (talk · contribs) - Intend to start on random articles and articles from request list shortly.
• Admrboltz (talk · contribs) - List
• Aguerriero (talk · contribs) - Completed Template:FA Phil Collins, Template:FA CPU, Template:FA Heavy Metal Umlaut, and others.
• Aibarr (talk · contribs) - Macular Degeneration is done and linked.
• Alekjds (talk · contribs) - Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki complete. Will continue to record random articles, featured articles, anything really.
• AlexNg (talk · contribs)
• Ambuj.Saxena (talk · contribs) - Completed Template:FA India, Template:FA Mumbai, Template:FA Indian Railways
• American Patriot 1776 (talk · contribs) - Stargate related articles
• Andrevan (talk · contribs) – Template:FA Golden Age of Arcade Games
• An Siarach (talk · contribs) - Intend to start by end of May 06. Will concentrate on Scottish articles.
• Antifamilymang (talk · contribs) - Fuck is my current and first project
• AMbroodEY (talk · contribs) - Hinduism in progress.
• Articuno1 (talk · contribs)- Just started spoken recordings, my current project is Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and random articles.
• Arwel Parry (talk · contribs) – Welsh language and Ruthin are mine.
• Ashdurbat (talk · contribs) – Opeth is mine.
• Athf1234 (talk · contribs) - Completed Template:FA Attack on Pearl Harbor, Template:FA Siege, Template:FA Stuttering, Template:FA Crash test dummy, working on others
• Babij (talk · contribs) - Australia: Damn, that was long. I'll be doing more Aussie-themed ones in the future. E-mail me if you want anything in particular.
• Batmanand (talk · contribs) – Template:FA Not The Nine O'Clock News just done, will choose next page in a couple of days
• Beno1000 (talk · contribs) - Fred Phelps currently in production
• Birdzeye (talk · contribs) - Canada Currently recording my first one: Enigma machine.
• Blankfaze (talk · contribs)
• Blnguyen (talk · contribs) - Vietnamese pronounciations of articles
• Bluemet (talk · contribs) - Final Fantasy X Starting it
• Braindrain0000 (talk · contribs) - Working on Nanotechnology
• brian0918 (talk · contribs)
• ButFli (talk · contribs) - Recording University of Queensland - Will focus on Australian articles of interest.
• Cal T (talk · contribs)
• Carlsmith (talk · contribs) – Template:FA Hong Kong; In progress: Template:FA MTR
• CBDroege (talk · contribs) - Working on superhero articles.
• Cchan199206 (talk · contribs) - List, currently working on Zalman as a start.
• Ccson (talk · contribs) Template:FA Alpha Phi Alpha (using Audacity, any tips are appreciated)
• Celestianpower (talk · contribs)
• Cernen (talk · contribs) - People tell me I have a sexy voice; why not put it to good use?
• Cfeyrer (talk · contribs) - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is done, working on World War I
• Chadley99 (talk · contribs) - Finished Template:FA Thomas Pynchon, Rosetta Project; working on Maurice Ravel now.
• Chameleon (talk · contribs) – Currently working on Wombat and Noam Chomsky.
• Charmingman (talk · contribs) - I will record the entry on Morrissey.
• Chatoyant (talk · contribs) – I think I'll do Calvin and Hobbes =)
• Chismatic (talk · contribs) - I will record and edit the entry on Western (genre).
• Chris Roy (talk · contribs)
• CGP (talk · contribs)
• Ckamaeleon (talk · contribs) - I can do French-related articles, my FR accent is pretty good.| Previous: Austin-Bergstrom International Airport; Signature(show all previous). Currently: Columbine High School massacre (progress) Next: Besançon, JET_Programme, --Back in the game. editing Columbine, parts 2-4
• CMat (talk · contribs) - Just finished Rebatching
• Covington (talk · contribs) - will start in a month and a half
• Craigy144 (talk · contribs) – Template:FA Victoria of the United Kingdom
• Crimsonmyst (talk · contribs) - I am new and would like to start with articles related to Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean.
• DanielHolth (talk · contribs) – I continue speaking.
• Darobsta (talk · contribs) – Template:FA Flag of the Republic of China. I'll try to do Sealand before it hits the main page as a FA. I'd like to do New Zealand-related articles.
• Demi (talk · contribs)
• Derek Ross (talk · contribs) – Template:FA History of Scotland
• Dev920 (talk · contribs) - Benedict XVI - marked up for recording but my microphone is playing up.
• Deyyaz (talk · contribs)
• DRJacobson (talk · contribs) – Currently working on Supply and demand
• Dirtyliberal (talk · contribs) - Aruba and other aruba related articles
• DO'Neil (talk · contribs)
• Donbert (talk · contribs) - Template:FA Cheese, and working on List of words of disputed pronunciation
• Dreddnott (talk · contribs) - done pro announcer work, any article suggestions?
• dweekly (talk · contribs) - Titanium
• Elizabeyth (talk · contribs) - Copyright
• Enochlau (talk · contribs) - Template:FA Toilets in Japan, Sydney, Template:FA Open cluster
• epolk (talk · contribs) - Starting on the List of Articles All Languages Should Have.
• the Epopt (talk · contribs) – Limerence, (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
• Etoile (talk · contribs) - Guide dog
• Facto (talk · contribs) - Jean Grey
• FaxCelestis (talk · contribs) - Just pushing random article and reading.
• Flying Canuck (talk · contribs) - will help when I can
• Forschung (talk · contribs) – Hong Kong Be honest, and report any manic speaker destruction if you find the accent hard to swallow.
• FutureNJGov (talk · contribs) - Template:FA Super Mario 64, Template:FA Red vs Blue, and I'll tackle some of the video game articles later, along with some sport ones.
• Fuzheado (talk · contribs) – Template:FA Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
• GangstaEB (talk · contribs)- I'm going to start with Kentucky-related articles. I'll probably start in a few weeks.
• Goatrider (talk · contribs) – I'm going to start recording articles about serial killers, starting with David_Berkowitz. Sick? Sure. Helpful? You bet. ;-)
• Gonknet (talk · contribs) – Just discovered Spoken Wikipedia. I'm going to start with the Template:FA Typewriter.
• Gracenotes (talk · contribs) - So far, I've done Template:FA Hydrogen and WP:SPIDER. Need to work on those exPlosives.
• Gtdp (talk · contribs) - Jumping into the deep-end by having a go at Template:FA Duran Duran as my first spoken article...
• Halidecyphon (talk · contribs) – Just finished Paradox and space race, have recorded and am editing stuff. Birdsong in the background is proving problematic.
• Hathawayc (talk · contribs)
• IceKarma (talk · contribs) - Working on Gold standard.
• Ignignot (talk · contribs) - Working on Template:FA Sun.
• It's-is-not-a-genitive (talk · contribs) – Finishing off the Russian History recording that I did, and I am also working on recording for all the articles in the French phrases category
• JackpotDen (talk · contribs) - I done Static-X To start off with. I'll do a requested one next.
• Jdhowens90 (talk · contribs) - Finished my first, Mission Praise. Now working on Gold standard.
• Jeshii (talk · contribs) – Action potential, Psychedelic mushroom
• JHoltzman (talk · contribs) - Gonna start FIFA World cupsoon, i hope.
• Jon Harald Søby (talk · contribs) - Planning to do Rondane National Park as soon as my speakers (!) start functioning again
• Joaopais (talk · contribs) - Portugal-related articles
• Laura S (talk · contribs) - Template:FA History Of New Jersey, Template:FA Solar eclipse (right before it hit the main page!), Template:FA Markup language, WP:NPOV, WP:EQ, WP:IAR, Template:FA Binary star.
• Lee Stanley (talk · contribs) - British media related articles.
• Lightdarkness (talk · contribs) - FA's: Template:FA Douglas Adams, Template:FA Raney nickel. Both done before they hit the main page.
• Linuxbeak (talk · contribs) – Template:FACivil Air Patrol
• LiteratPJ (talk · contribs) - Completed: Literary criticism. Next: ??
• LjL (talk · contribs) - Milanese, Template:FA Vowel, Consonant, Gemination, Language
• Luccent (talk · contribs) - Nazi Germany - I am looking to work my way through the series, and to do other largish series as well. My microphone input seems to go over the microprocessor in my computer so my recordings are peppered with clicks from the CPU whirring. It's not too noticeable though.
• Lucidish - Free will
• Luigi30 (talk · contribs)
• Kazhivlad (talk · contribs) - Kardashev scale, as soon as I get my recording program re-installed.
• Kenumay (talk · contribs) - Ali G.
• Kungfuadam (talk · contribs)- Aztalan State Park completed
• Macropode (talk · contribs) - Fauna of Australia
• Markkasan (talk · contribs) - Nuclear Weapon
• Masonpatriot (talk · contribs)
• Mdd4696 (talk · contribs) - Puff, the Magic Dragon
  • Perhaps I'll return at a later date. ~MDD4696 01:20, 5 June 2006 (UTC)
• Mm35173 (talk · contribs) - Template:FA Helen Gandy - my first attempt, please critique on talk page
• mrdallaway (talk · contribs) - Treaty of Devol is done- my first attempt also-feedback is most welcome! Dinosaur also done (with edits!). Next stop: Palladio. Done. But there is a noticeable artifact of the Audacity's noise removal Effect. I put all settings for Noise Removal and Amplify to minimum. Any suggestions? Mrdallaway 12:46, 23 January 2006 (UTC)
• Moulder (talk · contribs) (list soon)
• MykReeve (talk · contribs)
• Nbierma (talk · contribs) - Complete: Aachen Cathedral, Astroturf, Bobsleigh, Edmund G. Ross, Four-minute mile, Mayflower, Sogdian language, Tupperware, Velocity of money, William Labov
• NicholasTurnbull (talk · contribs) - Complete: Template:FA The Giver, Microwave radio relay, Template:FA Waterfall Gully, South Australia | In progress: None
• Norvy (talk · contribs) - Template:FA History of the Grand Canyon area
• Omaryak (talk · contribs) - In progress: Template:FA Commonwealth of Nations, Template:FA Pan American World Airways
• Orchid Righteous (talk · contribs) - Glass and Roman Empire is progress
• Pacian (talk · contribs) - RuPaul and Cyndi Lauper are in progress; Julie Brown completed
• Pain (talk · contribs) - Solid Snake. Just a test to receive some feedback and see whether my accent is acceptable or not.
• Patrickjoel (talk · contribs) - Started with Vanilla sex in April 2006.
• Pbeesley1989 (talk · contribs)
• Peter McGinley (talk · contribs) - List of contributions can be found here.
• Pfctdayelise (talk · contribs) - plan to start on some Australia-related FAs.
• Phil-hong (talk · contribs) - So far, I have contributed This is Wonderland and Old City Hall (Toronto), and will be working on other pages soon.
• Phrawzty (talk · contribs) - I speak both English and French fluently. Yay.
• Pjf (talk · contribs) - I've spoken about Larry Wall.
• Ravenlock (talk · contribs) - I plan to tackle Star Wars and related links.
• Rdrs (talk · contribs) - I'm currently reading Venus.
• Rebelguys2 (talk · contribs) - Need to rerecord The West Wing (television), after many updates and to redo a bad recording with mispronunciations and slurred speech
• Rfc1394 (talk · contribs)
• riana_dzasta (talk · contribs) - I will work on Template:FAAcetic acid, which seems to be fairly stable. That could degrade into a terrible Chemistry joke.
• Robchurch (talk · contribs) - I'll have a go at doing Pink Floyd
• Rotten1 (talk · contribs) - I will attempt Nero Wolfe, Archie Goodwin, and related as soon as I lose my sore throat and stop losing my voice.
• R'son-W (talk · contribs) - French Revolution, as someone requested.
• Runa27 (talk · contribs) - probably fan fiction and related articles, Firefly/Serenity-related articles, Buffy the Vampire Slayer-related and Stargate-related articles. May need better mic before then, though, we'll see.
• Salvo46 (talk · contribs) - Rosa Parks is done and linked
• Saxsux (talk · contribs) - Done Robert Muchamore and Wymondham College.
• SCEhardt (talk · contribs)
• Sedola (talk · contribs) - Just finished Template:FA Stuyvesant High School and will work on something slightly less amitious soon.
• SergeantBolt (talk · contribs) - Recorded and added (in order of recording) Template:FA Lost (TV series), Template:FA Uma Thurman, Template:FA Julia Stiles, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Ana Lucia Cortez, Boone Carlyle, Charlie Pace, Claire Littleton, Hugo "Hurley" Reyes, Jack Shephard, Jin-Soo Kwon, Kate Austen and Libby (Lost).
• Shadow007 (talk · contribs)
• Shig23 (talk · contribs) – The Foundation Series
• Silsor (talk · contribs)
• snodawg (talk · contribs) - Krazy Kat
• Speaker Eric (talk · contribs) - Complete: Template:FA Equal Protection Clause In Progress: University of Michigan
• Steinsky (talk · contribs) – The following FAs are in the tedious editing phase: Free will, Plate tectonics, Traditional Counties of England, Planetary nebula, United Kingdom, Podcasting, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Way too busy to record and edit but still willing to help develop and promote the project.
• Stifle (talk · contribs)
• Switchercat (talk · contribs) Working on Boston, Massachusetts.
• Syckls (talk · contribs)
• Szyslak (talk · contribs) – Wikipedia:Neutral point of view
• Tarquin (talk · contribs) – might do Bicycle, but having problems getting a microphone to work with my laptop :(
• Tdxiang (talk · contribs) - Template:FA Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore); will do Singapore articles
• The editor1 (talk · contribs) - fork, sandpit, and ice cube
• Throup (talk · contribs) – Working on Doctor Who and its subpages. Have just completed Doctor Who theme music and Dalek.
• theboatashore - Humpback Whale
• Tmalmjursson (talk · contribs) - Will take Columbine High School Massacre Article taken
• TrbleClef (talk · contribs) – Choir
• Troythompson (talk · contribs)
• Udi Raz (talk · contribs) - started working on two articles on the hebrew wiki. I didn't understand how to make a link to an article on the hebrew wiki, yet.
• Uncke Herb (talk · contribs) - Rediscovered this WikiProject. I'm might do an Australian-related one. Actually, can someone name a article that needs (at least) to have a Spoken Wikipedia. Thank you.
• Veratien (talk · contribs) - Currently working on Template:FA Nostradamus, Template:FA Greek mythology and Template:FA Gregorian chant. All nice short ones. ;) I'm around half-way through each, and should have them all mastered and uploaded by the 14th of September. :)
• Vneiomazza (talk · contribs) - I have completed Montréal-Mirabel International Airport
• Vonfraginoff (talk · contribs) - All done with Template:FAWatchmen in one day. And it shows. Bit of a mess, but in the wiki spirit, better than nothing.
• WAZAAAA (talk · contribs) - recorded Reggae and User:SCEhardt. 2006 Winter Olympics = worst. article. ever.
• Whouk (talk · contribs) - recording Mary Shelley
• Wikibofh (talk · contribs) - Done: Dennis Ritchie, Ken Thompson, Monster truck, Dennis Anderson, Template:FA World War I, Chesty Puller. Current: None. Next: No plans, but I suspect the kids will request Tom Meents
• WikiFanatic (talk · contribs) - Microprose - about to upload it
• Willmcw (talk · contribs) – Template:FAAttack on Pearl Harbor
• Wishkres (talk · contribs) - Working on Template:FACat.
• Wizardman (talk · contribs) - Planning and Recording Mario.
• Wrcmills (talk · contribs) - Finished Scott Mills, will soon start on Chris Moyles
• RoddyYoung (talk · contribs) - Looking into Template:FA Baha'i Faith, Baha'u'llah and Kitab-i-Aqdas
• Youremyjuliet (talk · contribs) - Will help when I find the time.
• zanimum (talk · contribs) – Jim Henson and all of the Sesame Street articles are mine
• zappa (talk • contribs)
• Zegoma beach (talk · contribs) – Harry Aubrey de Maclean, Battle of Vimy Ridge, Common Language Runtime
• Zvesoulis (talk · contribs)
• Kirbytime (talk · contribs)

Award

Barnstar

This project has its very own official barnstar.

According to Wikipedia:Barnstars on Wikipedia:

The Spoken Barnstar may be awarded to an editor who makes outstanding contributions in the form of spoken articles for Wikipedia. Outstanding contributions may include: recording ten good articles, recording three featured articles, or doing an incredibly good job of recording one long, complex, excellent, featured article despite all odds.

See also

• Wikipedia:Media#Audio: policies for handling sounds, and information for handling sound files
• Meta:Wikisound: a project proposed by Angela to provide spoken versions of pages from Wikipedia and its sister projects.