Students should use Wikipedia
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7130325.stm
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has said teachers who refuse younger students access to the site are "bad educators".
Speaking at the Online Information conference at London's Olympia, he played down the long-running controversy over the site's authority.
He said young students should be able to reference the online encyclopaedia in their work.
Mr Wales said the site, which is edited by users, should be seen as a "stepping stone" to other sources.
As long as an article included accurate citations, he said he had "no problem" with it being used as a reference for younger students, although academics would "probably be better off doing their own research".
I advocate for this with my students: use Wikipedia as that "stepping stone" but also as a way to tap into the collective knowledge on a topic - especially pop culture, technology and basic historical entries. I also urge librarians to take an active role in editing pages devoted to their towns, colleges or corporations, etc. Someday it may be in a librarian's job description to be the "Wikipedia Liaison" for his or her library.
Comments
Hi, Michael. I recently heard you speak at TechConnections 8 in Dublin, Ohio. I was inspired to create a Wikipedia entry for my library, only to discover that it had been deleted within a month, along with other local libraries.
After scanning the comments, I discovered that after much debate, it had been decided that libraries in my area of Ohio should only be mentioned briefly in the context of our geographic region. Look up "Garnet A. Wilson Public Library," and you'll see what I mean. Note that for some reason it's been placed under the heading "Government."
Posted by: Nicholas Slone | December 12, 2007 05:53 PM
I agree 100% Michael. You might be interested in a proposal made by a New Zealand politician, that instead of funding the online Encyclopedia of NZ (teara.govt.nz), the government should pay someone to write and edit NZ-themed articles in Wikipedia. (Personally, I'd go for both, not either/or, but it's an interesting idea).
I'm not sure students should reference WP, but as a stepping stone, certainly . And at least on some topics, WP is far superior to some subscription databases I've used (I've read articles in paid-for databases that were clearly written and/or edited by people with no understanding of the topic; they made no sense whatsoever).
Posted by: Simon Chamberlain | December 12, 2007 09:40 PM