You also have to keep in mind that wikipedia is written by normal people and with that comes their own biases. According to wikipedias on statistics in 2012, majority of the editors are still men, 90%. In the U.S. there is a a higher ratio of 15% but that is still far from the average ratios of men to women in the U.S. (50/50). So wikipedia has down falls but it also has advantages compared to other sources of information. Wikipediais trasparatne in there are no secrets, even chats or discussions are made public for all to see, which provides a little protection for our younger learners but still allows them to just interact with anyone. The material can be updated quickly and often, compared to a history text book that might be outdated in high school just because of the cost to replace them and then declining school system budget.What are your thoughts on wikipedia and do you use it or participate?
Great point! Make wikipedia a starting point for research but not the actual resources. I think its great that they provide reference to articles at the bottom of most pages so if you are totally lost after reading the Wikipedia site and want more information they give you that resource.
ReplyDeleteSince it can be altered so quickly I always like the idea of being able to look at the references used.
DeleteOne of our assignments this week is to edit a Wikipedia page. I have to admit... I'm afraid!
ReplyDeleteYou know Michelle, its not that bad as you think. I have actual played around and made recommended changes to some of the normal regular pages that are associated with some of the historical locations around where I live and the schools I am involved in. I ended up checking back and it was approved after a few days upon being reviewed by an editor.
DeleteI concur Michelle. Plus another account and password? Ahhhh!!
DeleteI know there are so many password for everything now, its the same way at work. At least there they started to allow us to use our cac cards to access a lot of the programs we use but then when you forget your card you then of course do not remember your password because you haven't been using it.
DeleteWikipedia usually pops up in my search and I click on it occasionally when I am trying to find general knowledge on a topic. The space lends itself to easy searching and provides links to other keywords and topics of interest. Do I consider it a valid source? No. Is it an acceptable way to start a search on a topic of interest? Yes.
ReplyDeleteIt does always pop up near the top for most searches, must be great marketing. I think it seems like most people agree that you cannot refer to it alone but does give you some idea of references to review.
DeleteI used Wikipedia mostly to get a better (non-technical) definition or understanding of terms or topics. For example, Multimodal interaction; Wikipedia’s definition is aligned with the content presented in “Effects of group reflection variations in project-based learning integrated in a Web 2.0 learning space”, (Kima, Hongb, Bonkc, Lim, 2012). I know, definition seems easy but just as the acronym OER meant one thing in your work environment (Officer Evaluation Report), the acronym is something different in another context. Maybe a bad example, but basically Wikipedia has been useful for me as new terms and subjects are introduced in my studies while attending graduate school. I have been looking into this tool a little more and knew there is opportunity to edit or make contribution to a particular subject matter (after creation of an account). Nonetheless, percentage of use for Wikipedia between Male/Female users is alarming, but from with the USA use is about equal, as you stated
ReplyDeleteAnother good point you made is “contributors are normal people” and because use of Wikipedia extends across countries, this mean there are cultural differences and the contributions may not apply to everyone. I still think this tool is a fairly good resource, but should not be relied upon by researchers as a final conclusion/opinion of a specific research subject.
Agree, its almost a better tool then google itself. When searching google there is so much that you do not know where to start. WIki can be used to narrow that search down in the research.
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