Orientation and possible uses of the site

Different & Competing Perspectives
Understanding the human mind has passed through many different stages. Belief systems, or paradigms such Shamanism, Spirituality, Organised Religion and the Occult have existed for millennia.

In terms of modern science, we have also passed through many different perspectives. In the brief history of Psychology. Psychoanalysis, Behaviourism, Cognitive Psychology and now Biopsychology paradigms have often vied with one another for dominant dominance. Whilst they often compliment one another, it cannot be denied that there is sometimes considerable conflict between the opposing viewpoints, and they certainly compete, in terms of funding if not in terms of content.


 * (References similar to the Tree of Knowledge introduction would be good here)
 * Reference Tree of Knowledge paper & Article.

Integration & Free flow of Ideas
The psychology Wiki can act as a forum for the latest research, with abstracts on site and discussion forums for each paper published, with links to on or off site storage of free papers, as well as links to off-site publishers, whom one could purchase individual papers from as required.

Such a forum, combined with the Meta-textbook user/contributor model would allow psychologists to begin to collaborate on the integration of the ideas and knowledge base within psychology

Content
The Psychology Wiki is envisaged to consist of:
 * Text book quality content, with full academic referencing (APA style as standard)
 * Articles will be extensive cross-linked. For example: biopsychological perspectives being easily contrasted with cognitive or humanistic approaches.  Using internal linking, a Wiki can achieve this, which is impossible with textbooks.
 * Course content for training courses in both Academic (university, pre and post graduate level) and Practitioner (Trainee & CPD level).

Referencing

 * Full academic referencing throughout. APA style has been chosen as the project standard.
 * Links to full text of papers, either on or off site (otherwise not available)
 * Paper discussion online (check Abstract copyright issue)

For Academics
Discussion of latest research at present takes place in reviews within academic journals, and between colleagues within institutions. Academics need a forum to discuss the latest research with one another if Psychology is ever to realise its aim of becoming an integrated and unified discipline. The role of the Psychology Wiki in this aim is:
 * To provide a forum to discuss new papers as and when they are published.
 * Access to Abstracts on site (copyright permitting).
 * Access to full text of papers (in .pdf format) on or off-site.
 * A place to present their research, either on site, or linked to their personal web sites.

For Practitioners
There is a need for a tool that gives practitioners a place to share their therapy ideas, offer feedback, and access the works of their peers. Such a resource will:
 * Allow practitioners to reflect on their experience.
 * Share their ideas with one another and offer feedback on each others work.
 * Read the experiences of service users and gain insight into their perspective.

For Service Users
There is a need for users of psychology and psychiatric services to be heard. People who may be suffering from mental illness are entitled to as much of an input in the development of psychology as the Academics and Practitioners. The vision for the service users is:
 * Parallel information on relevant subjects, written in a more accessible style.
 * A forum to express their ideas, separate from the academic side, but accessible by both groups, so that users of our services to enter into a dialogue with both researchers and practitioners.
 * A place to express experiences of psychological issues, such as depression, from their perspective.

Different from Wikipedia in that:

 * Meta-textbook rather than encyclopaedia (more detail, depth & specialist info)
 * It provides content that goes beyond that presented to the general reader, content specifically written for academic and professional psychologists.

Can ANYONE contribute to it?
When people first hear about the Wiki model of user driven content, they tend to worry that the quality of the articles will be poor, or that vandalism will be a serious issue. Whilst these issues do exist, they are far less harmful than one might imagine for the following reasons:


 * Most people will not vandalize a web page, in the same way that most people will not vandalize a text book. The anonymity of the internet does not stop many people from following conventional social norms of behaviour.
 * Vandalism to a page can be easily and quickly fixed by reverting to an earlier version.
 * People tire of vandalism far more quickly than committed contributors tire of writing articles.
 * If people see that an article's content is of a good quality, they are hesitant to edit it.
 * If people see that an article's quality is of poor quality, they tend to either:
 * Improve the article
 * Tag the article for improvement
 * Or discuss how the article can be improved in its talk page.

Later contributors are in effect, peer reviewing the material written by other contributors. An expert in a field, should they encounter errors, will likely fix them, whereas a novice is less likely to interfere.

The continuous improvement of articles through changes by contributors, of which only the good changes are kept in the long run, is analogous to the evolutionary theory of artificial selection. In time, through selection, the Psychology Wiki should evolve into a high quality, thoroughly researched and referenced online resource.

Information

 * Started: 21 January, 2006.
 * Founder: User:Lifeartist
 * Main language: English
 * Interwiki link: Wikia:c:psychology
 * URL: http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page
 * Current Active Contributors
 * Psychology Wiki Statistics

Administrators

 * Lifeartist
 * Mostly Zen
 * Jaywin

Funding
The Psychology Wiki and its founders make no money from this site. It is an entirely voluntary operation disseminating copyright free psychology information. Our goal is to share, without costs of any kind, psychology knowledge between academic and professional psychologists and with a wider audience of non-psychologists.

The Google advertisements to the right hand pane on your screen are part of the business funding model of [http://www.wikia.com/wiki/Wikia%2C_Inc. Wikia Inc.]. They host the wiki, providing the technical facilities, bandwidth, storage, backup  and technical support for the site for free, as they do for other  Wikia sites. Their declared intention is to do this in perpetuity, the company making its profit via the advertisments. Wikia was set up by the founders of Wikipedia as another approach to making knowlege available, without cost, to the people of the world.