A number of people (students and friends) have approached me to check if Wikipedia ever make the grade. My reply, “Why not, if you know how to you and verify the information on the posting?” Well, let’s me share an article from The Chronicles of Higher Learning, dated October 27, 2006.
“As questions about the accuracy of the anyone-can-edit encyclopedia persist, academics are split on whether to ignore it, or start contributing.”
That is true actually. Not only the academics (professors), even the academic librarians are in the same shoes. Anyway, for my opinion, as a student and a trainee librarian, Wikipedia is one of the great source for us to have a fast understanding of the topic or term. But, if you (a student) to put that in your academic work, the level (art) of referencing will not be the same level as your friends who does in-depth research. As a resul, you will still got your mark, but not as high as your friends.
What about you place both?
I guess your professor will give more marks and he can see that you are really doing your research from various avenue. The street knowledge and also the academic way. Anyway, it is a true cycle as if you really want to know more, you don’t depend on one source. Investigation has to be done in from various database to justify your understanding in seeking the topic knowledge. So, has Wikipedia ever make the grade?
– HOW TO BE A WIKIPEDIAN —
Wikipedia wants to make it easy for visitors to edit its contents, but it has recently taken steps to make creating new entries somewhat more difficult. Here is how Wikipedia articles are edited and created: How to edit a Wikipedia article:
- Go to any article on the site.
- Click on the “edit this page” tab, located near the top of the page.
- Make alterations and save them. The changes will show up immediately, but Wikipedia’s army of contributors who check the site regularly for changesmay test the veracity of any newly added information. Every article on Wikipedia includes a “history” button, near the top of the page, that allows users to track every change made in the text.
How to create a Wikipedia article:
- Register as a Wikipedia member, providing a user name and password.
- New users are shown introductory Web pages that explain the site’s posting guidelines.
- Type in the title of your article and wait for the site to search for similar articles that may already exist.
- Enter the text of your article. Links to other Wikipedia articles can be created simply by selecting sections of text and letting the site find URL’s for the articles they represent.
- Write a brief “edit summary” that tells other Wikipedia posters why you created the entry. Preview the article, save it, and get ready for the masses to edit it. The new article should appear on the site quickly, but it could be removed almost as quickly under Wikipedia’s “speedy deletion” policy, under which “Wikipedia administrators may delete Wikipedia pages or media ‘on sight’ without further debate, as in the cases of patent nonsense or pure vandalism.”
Entry examined: FLOW CYTOMETRY
Scholar: J. Paul Robinson, a professor of biomedical engineering and of immunopharmacology at Purdue University’s main campus and president of the International Society for Analytical Cytology. (Flow cytometry is the analysis of microscopic particles suspended in a fluid.)
Grade: A *
“The main section on flow cytometry was well-done and accurate, … but as you drop into the subsections, the accuracy drops off. I went in and actually made some corrections to these — I said, ‘I can’t leave these and let the record stand like this.’”
Some flaws: At one point in the entry, the word “homologous” was misused in talking about blood transfusions. Mr. Robinson said he also decided to add some information that he felt was important, like the name of the scientist who invented the first cell sorter. Because of minor errors, he would give the subsections, such as a part about fluorescence-activated cell sorting, a C. “When you get into technical fields where accuracy is important, it should be accurate,” he says. “The problem with the public domain is that anyone can put anything they like into the public domain. … I was a little surprised that I could go in and edit.”
Well, on the other side, Middlebury College History Department Limits Students’ Use of Wikipedia (reported February 16, 2007) on CHE.
“Q. What is the department’s stance on students’ using Wikipedia as an entry point or as a way of finding other, more appropriate sources for citation?
A. We’re on record as actually encouraging it for that purpose. To be honest, the original impetus behind our decision arose as an outcry from professors who wanted to preclude or prohibit students from using Wikipedia altogether. I personally resisted that. I believe that most educational decisions should be directed toward extending access and rights rather than restricting them”
What are the other librarians bloggers would say?
Building 21st century librarians AND libraries
…edited the Wikipedia? You have a Facebook profile? It’s important for librarians to keep up with the hot technologies, but does it make someone a techie? No. Can you install MediaWiki software on a server? Have you moved blog content from one software to another (say Moveable Type to WordPress)? What do you do when your blog or wiki’s database b…
Information Wants To Be Free – Mar 10, 2008 9:23 AMYet Another Reason We Should Be Teaching, Not Blocking, Wikipedia
…entry in Wikipedia had almost 2 million views and was the seventh most visited (and, really, second most visited in terms of content) article on the site. John McCain’s had 1.1 million. Hillary Clinton, who apparently more people “know” about, had about 422,000. In those same three weeks, the Wikipedia home page got over 140 million views. The p…
Weblogg-ed – Mar 10, 2008 11:00 PMWhat is graphic design?
…According to Wikipedia: Graphic design is the process of communicating visually using text and images to present information. AIGA, the professional association for design, gives this definition: Graphic design is the combination of shapes, colors, typefaces, images and words that cause you to react or feel something. What is graphic design to y…
David Airey :: Graphic and Logo Designer – Mar 5, 2008 10:25 PMThe Charms of Wikipedia
…Wikipedia is just an incredible thing.”
Library Stuff – Mar 2, 2008 6:22 AM
Well, a number of difference experience. Even if you a Britannica, if you really want to know more about the topic, I guess you will also start to check out relevant resources.
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