The Chronicle of Higher Ed must be celebrating Wikipedia Week. They've got three articles and a live discussion on Thursday about Wikipedia available. Start with the history of the site. I like the Lawrence Lessig stuff:
There is also an article about a new effort by one of the co-founders of Wikipedia (the guy who got written out of the history of Wikipedia by the other co-founder). Citizendium will be like Wikipedia with the addition of academic editors.
There is also a story expressing concern about students who rely too much on Wikipedia and don't do enough work to consider other sources.
Finally, there is a live discussion about Wikipedia in the academic world on Thursday at 3 PM Eastern/12 Pacific time.
At this year's Wikimania, an annual meeting of Wikipedia contributors, Lawrence Lessig, a Stanford University law professor who has become something of a guru on matters of digital copyright, praised the encyclopedia for "democratizing knowledge" that had been taken out of the hands of the amateur.
Over the course of the past century, he said, "read-write culture," in which consumers felt empowered to make their own creative product, had been replaced by "read-only culture," in which companies and lawmakers had conspired to discourage people from creative endeavors. Mr. Lessig's criticism of "read-only culture" often focused on the entertainment industry's attempts to restrict file sharing, but his remarks suggested that colleges, too, were guilty of discouraging valuable amateur work.
Mr. Wales's innovation was to turn that equation on its ear. Wikipedia may, according to boosters like Mr. Lessig, mark a return to the days of "read-write culture."
To many skeptical professors, however, Wikipedia has achieved that goal by disregarding expertise and truth.
There is also an article about a new effort by one of the co-founders of Wikipedia (the guy who got written out of the history of Wikipedia by the other co-founder). Citizendium will be like Wikipedia with the addition of academic editors.
There is also a story expressing concern about students who rely too much on Wikipedia and don't do enough work to consider other sources.
Finally, there is a live discussion about Wikipedia in the academic world on Thursday at 3 PM Eastern/12 Pacific time.
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