Wikipedia:Peer review/Metrication/archive1

Metrication

An interesting article on a world-wide phenomenon - over 200 years 95% of the world has changed from using local traditional measurement to using the common SI system. Even in the two countries that haven't changed - the UK and US - many industries and most universities use mostly or only SI. This article has just had a major layout change and trim, and it would be great to get some feedback on it. Thanks Seabhcán 08:14, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Lead ought to summarise the article. Otherwise a good article, clear and to the point without all that POV and FUD the anti-metrification people tend to use in their argumentation... hope it stays that way in the future too =) WegianWarrior 09:16, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for comment. Can you elaborate on what you think should be included in the summary/lead? Seabhcán 10:35, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

my basic approach when writing an article is to try to sum up each paragraph in the article as a sentence in the lead and work from there - basicly, the lead should be a 'mini version' of the article. See Wikipedia:Lead section for more hints and tips, and good luck. WegianWarrior 11:52, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

I expanded it a bit. What do you think? Seabhcán 12:06, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Looks much better - I'll keep my eyes on this one and make more comments if anythign else comes to mind. =) WegianWarrior 17:27, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

It looks good, but there are a few thing that could be covered in more detail. I would like to see more on how the transition to metric is carried out. How expensive is it? How long are dual non-metric/metric signs and labels generally in use? How much time after government imposed adoption does it take for the population to embrace metric in their day to day lives? It would also be good to see something on semi-metricated countries. In Canada for instance, the government greatly reduced the push towards metrication only a few years after it began and today we have a mix of systems. The weather report invariably gives the temperature in Celsius, and Fahrenheit is only ever used by the pre-metric elderly when discussing the weather. However ovens and cooking temperatures are almost always measured in Fahrenheit, and Canadians almost invariably use Fahrenheit for cooking. It would be great to have some discussion of which countries are like this, and about how this situation comes about. Also Image:Max100km.jpg is small, unverified, and kind of ugly. It should be relatively easy to replace. - SimonP 14:06, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

I agree that it would be interesting to have a section on semi-metric, but the data would be hard to find. It would also only really apply to Canada and Ireland, and possibly Australia, New Zealand (maybe Japan?) Most other countries have been metric so long that the previous system is unknown. I used to live in Russia which has been metric since 1924. No-one, not even old people, have heard of a verst. Even books from the 19th century have since been republished and now say 'kilometer'. What can we replace Image:Max100km.jpg with? Seabhcán 14:20, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

• Having lived in both Australian and New Zealand- there are no semi-metirc cases that I can think of, everything important (or manufactured in the last 15-20 years - like ovens, speedometers etc.) is metric.--nixie 03:11, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

There is one area of semimetrification in Australia: beer. In Japan, floor sizes are often given in tsubo & sake is sold in traditional volumes though labelled in metric. Jimp 11Oct05

I've uploaded a new image for the lead. Its of a dual measurement Speedometer. Seabhcán 14:32, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

As mentioned in the article, the UK is also "semi-metric". The situation with weather reports and ovens is essentialy the same as the current status in Canada as mentioned by SimonP. Road speed limits are one of the few examples of a still purely non-metric system that I can think of. CheekyMonkey 15:20, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Ok. I added some stuff on this to a new section on the "Conversion process". Seabhcán 16:06, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

The new material is very good. I did a quick search, and there seems to be a fair bit written in this area. To become a FA the article will need references, so it might be worthwhile to drop by your university library and see what they have on the subject. Mine has titles like How to Plan Metric Conversion, Managing Metrication in Business and Industry, Canada Goes Metric, and Vestiges of Pre-Metric Weights and Measures Persisting in Metric-System Europe, 1926-1927. - SimonP 20:17, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

• You'd need references for your work. This should not be linked: Wikipedia:Measurements Debate. =Nichalp «Talk»= 14:28, 25 September 2005 (UTC)