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Dear fellow research leaders, I use the Groucho approach with my kids: I would not want to use an encyclopedia that would accept me as a contributor. (To paraphrase Groucho Marx, a comedian in the mid 20th century, he said would not want to join a country club that would accept his as a member.) Best regards, Martin Swist mswist@asij.ac.jp Middle School LMS Middle School XC Coach The American School In Japan 1-1-1 Nomizu, Chofu-shi, Tokyo "The heart is a little to the left." (Rev.) William Sloane Coffin I just finfshed Terry Pratchett's Nation, and am reading Inside beauty, by Cynthia Kadohata. -----Original Message----- From: School Library Media & Network Communications [mailto:LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Susan Grigsby Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 5:29 AM To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU Subject: [LM_NET] Wikipedia Folks: Recently we hosted author Laurie Halse Anderson at our school and she was a fabulous speaker! She mentioned Wikipedia to our students and I started to cringe until I heard her say it was a bad idea to use it. This is what I had been saying all along so I perked up to hear what her argument was. She said she authored her OWN entry and when she went back a couple of weeks later to add something saw that her birthdate had been changed, the number of siblings had been changed, the timeline of her books had been changed, and so on. She told the kids, "If I can't be the authority on myself how can you trust anything on that site?" It made a big impact on the kids that heard her speak and I've seen a drastic reduction in kids running to that site for quick info once word got around. The big point is that the information is not reliable whether through disinformation, misinformation, harmful intention or honest mistake. I went to an article there once and someone had managed to write POO in between most every sentence - obvious and quickly fixed but how do you know when the mistake is WAY more subtle at the exact moment you happen to hit that article? The short answer is, you can't. -- Susan Grigsby, Teacher-Librarian President, GLMA Elkins Pointe Middle School Roswell, Georgia susan.grigsby@gmail.com We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. - Joseph Campbell ---------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note: All LM_NET postings are protected by copyright law. You can prevent most e-mail filters from deleting LM_NET postings by adding LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU to your e-mail address book. To change your LM_NET status, e-mail to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL 3) SET LM_NET MAIL 4) SET LM_NET DIGEST * Allow for confirmation. * LM_NET Help & Information: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ * LM_NET Archive: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/archive/ * EL-Announce with LM_NET Select: http://lm-net.info/ * LM_NET Supporters: http://www.eduref.org/lm_net/ven.html * LM_NET Wiki: http://lmnet.wikispaces.com/ --------------------------------------------------------------------