What Doug said.
He's right--the scope is amazing, (skim the coverage of the plant and animal
kingdoms, for example) updates are virtually real-time (scramble to Wikipedia when
a notable kicks-the-bucket and see if you can beat the update) and I, too, refer to
it often for an overviews of all things tech.
I added a wickipedia seach box to our library site's Quick Reference page a year or
two ago based on some of those strengths.
Let me make it clear, though, that I'm saying that scope in a k-12 environment can
be highly distracting to students and downright hazardous to your professional
life. Personally, I work in a district where a "values" group recently took actions
to attempt to convict teachers and school officials for "distributing pornography
to minors" based upon their use of the book "Freedom writer's diary" in High School
accelerated English. And most of us have now read about the felony conviction of a
hapless substitute teacher who unwittingly "allowed" students to see pornographic
images.
In that sort of climate especially, Wikipedia's scope in areas like sexuality,
vernacular, and pop-culture become problematic. Again, I'd hate to explain to an
antagonistic group of fundamentalists how a student learned to perform fellatio by
perusing an illustrated wickipedia article while ostensibly doing a library
research project--and there's no doubt that that scenario could happen in an
instant. I think educators have to take a second to think about that.
So I deal with it this way: when kids are doing research in my middle school
library, they are only directed to Wikipedia (which in my facility also means
allowed to use it) in cases where it's a key source. That's standard operating
procedure here. Unlike other sources, though, I also choose to warn them to stay on
task and not to succumb to temptations to tool around WITHIN Wikipedia. That's a
unique situation with the research sources I offer up.
Wikipedia, though, is a unique source at this point. I think we need to recognize
its inherent strengths and inherent weaknesses as well as assessing it's
suitability to the students we serve. We should, I think, adapt to it and to try to
fit it properly into the information landscape.
I continue to enjoy reading all your perspectives on this stuff.
Have I wished you a summery summertime yet?
There; I just did.
Jeffrey Hastings
School Librarian,
Michigan, USA
-----Original Message-----
From: School Library Media & Network Communications
[mailto:LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of dougj
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 9:39 AM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Re: [LM_NET] Should students use Wikipedia as a source?[Spam score: 8%]
Hi Jeff and others,
Goodness, first "scrotum" and now "fellatio" right here on LM_Net. What is
the profession coming to? ;-)
I liked Stacy Schiff's comments about the scope of Wikipedia in her
wonderful New Yorker article:
Apparently, no traditional encyclopedia has ever suspected that someone
might wonder about Sudoku or about prostitution in China. Or, for that
matter, about Capgras delusion (the unnerving sensation that an impostor is
sitting in for a close relative), the Boston molasses disaster, the
Rhinoceros Party of Canada, Bill Gates¹s house, the forty-five-minute
Anglo-Zanzibar War, or Islam in Iceland. Wikipedia includes fine entries on
Kafka and the War of the Spanish Succession, and also a complete guide to
the ships of the U.S. Navy, a definition of Philadelphia cheesesteak, a
masterly page on Scrabble, a list of historical cats (celebrity cats, a cat
millionaire, the first feline to circumnavigate Australia), a survey of
invented expletives in fiction (³bippie,² ³cakesniffer,² ³furgle²),
instructions for curing hiccups, and an article that describes, with
schematic diagrams, how to build a stove from a discarded soda can.²
Schiff, Stacy ³Know it all: Can Wikipedia conquer expertise?² New Yorker,
July 31, 2006.
<http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060731fa_fact>
Jeff's point is a good one - the scope of Wikipedia is one of its major
values. For me especially, it is invaluable for technology terms.
All the best,
Doug
Doug Johnson
Director of Media and Technology
Mankato Area Public Schools
Box 8713, 1351 S Riverfront Dr.
Mankato MN 56001-8714
Phone: 507-387-7698 x 473
E-mail: dougj@doug-johnson.com
Web: www.doug-johnson.com
Blue Skunk Blog: http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/
You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus. Mark
Twain
On 6/5/07 11:22 AM, "Hastings, Jeff" <HASTINGJ@HOWELLSCHOOLS.COM> wrote:
> Plus: This may be obvious, but as SCHOOL librarians, most of us also
> have to realize that our students are never going to be able to find the
> definition of the term 'dirty sanchez' or detailed instructions on
> performing fellatio by consulting World Book or Brittanica.
>
> Jeffrey Hastings
> SLMS
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