Wikipedia in the College Classroom

Pete Forsyth, Wiki Strategieshttp://wikistrategies.net

Wikipedia in the College Classroom

http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/
Ole_Miss_talk_2012

Observations

Ten years ago, students were told not to cite Wikipedia.

Observations

Ten years ago, students were told not to cite Wikipedia.

Today, Wikipedia is everywhere, and two questions rise to the surface:

Observations

Ten years ago, students were told not to cite Wikipedia.

Today, Wikipedia is everywhere, and two questions rise to the surface:Does access to vast amounts of factual information, in itself, make us smarter?

Observations

Ten years ago, students were told not to cite Wikipedia.

Today, Wikipedia is everywhere, and two questions rise to the surface:Does access to vast amounts of factual information, in itself, make us smarter?

Do we even know what to do with this flood of information?

Overview

Part 1: Is Wikipedia important?
Does it help us understand broad changes
in society?

Overview

Part 1: Is Wikipedia important?
Does it help us understand broad changes
in society?

Part 2: Is Wikipedia useful to an educator? Does it offer unique and beneficial teaching and learning opportunities?

Overview

Part 1: Is Wikipedia important?
Does it help us understand broad changes
in society?
(YES!)

Part 2: Is Wikipedia useful to an educator? Does it offer unique and beneficial teaching and learning opportunities?
(YES!)

What is the purpose
of the academy?

Broad principles of ethics

In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle presented a dilemma. Should the virtuous citizen lead:

A life of quiet contemplation

A life of political activism

?

A practical reality:

Many people do not have the luxury to choose. They want to engage; and with barriers to engagement falling

A practical reality:

Many people do not have the luxury to choose. They want to engage; and with barriers to engagement falling

they are not waiting for an invitation.

See Eric Raymond,
The Cathedral and the Bazaar, 1997

Implications for diverse institutions

The Museum, a Temple or the ForumDuncan F. Cameron, 1971

Wikipedia as a platform for museums to encourage accessibility and community dialogueLori Byrd PhillipsWikipedian in Residence, Indianapolis Childrens MuseumU.S. Cultural Partnerships Coordinator, Wikimedia FoundationMuseum Studies graduate student

A practical reality:

Why cant we have high quality information about Michael Jackson, the Ole Miss football program, and a local art museum in the same place as articles about Afghanistan and zebras?

Answer: we can, if were willing to build it ourselves.

Free licenses

Disruption or course-correction?

A legal construct expressing:

Free licenses

Disruption or course-correction?

A legal construct expressing:

I am here to share.

Part 1: Something important is happening

in the way society processes, deliberates, and records knowledge.

New methods of knowledge production

How is a Wikipedia article constructed?

Discussion pages

Revision history

Warning banners

WikiProjects

New methods of knowledge production

use of Wikipediato help undergraduate history majors learn how to think and reason like historians.

Prof. Michael Bess, Vanderbilthttp://bit.ly/WP-history

Innovations to support this model

What is surprising in the Wikipedia ecosystem?

Fund-raising model($20 million raised, from 1 million donors.)

Innovations to support this model

What is surprising in the Wikipedia ecosystem?

Fund-raising model($20 million raised, from 1 million donors.)

Strategic planning process
(one year. 1000 volunteers. A clear direction.)

The public becomes invested

A new and profoundly different political force has emerged in the last few months, a constituency that identifies itself not by local interests but as citizens of the Internet.Understanding who they are and what they want is essentialLarry Downes, Forbes
http://onforb.es/downesSOPA

Part 1: Something important is happening

in the way society processes, deliberates, and records knowledge.

Your students want to understand;
they want to be involved.

Disrupting cultural institutions

British Museum

Indianapolis Childrens Museum

U.S. National Archives

QRpedia

http://glamwiki.org

Part 1: Something important is happening

in the way society processes, deliberates, and records knowledge.

Your students want to understand;
they want to be involved.

Academia has an important role to play;
but it must choose to participate.

There are more and less effective ways to engage.

Michel Aaij
http://bit.ly/WPtenure

Tim Messer Krusehttp://bit.ly/UndueWeight

The vision is aspirational, more than it is practical.

Imagine a world in which everyone has access to the sum of human knowledge.

Part 2. Serving students today & tomorrow

Soon the acquisition of higher knowledge will no longer be the preserve of universities: what then? What has happened to Encyclopaedia Britannica is a dress rehearsal for what will happen to universities unless they radically and speedily redefine their methods and purpose.Jim Barber, University of New England
http://bit.ly/StandLastLegs

Part 2. Serving students today & tomorrow

Individual professors experimenting

Wikipedia Public Policy Initiative

Wikimedia Global Education Program

AVO project, Finland

Open Educational Resources

Resources

Wikipedia Educators email list

Dr. Robert Cummings, Center for Writing & Rhetoric

Teaching & Learning Center

Regional Ambassador Tony Ard:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Tony_ard

Pete Forsyth, Wiki Strategies consulting:
http://wikistrategies.net

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