August 5, 2006
Dispatches From Wikimania
Education was on the agenda today at Wikimania 2006, the second annual conference devoted to Wikipedia and its satellite projects. In a series of briefings held at Harvard University’s law school, scholars and students argued that wikis—Web sites that allow groups of users to add and edit content—can help teachers and professors harness the creativity of tech-savvy students.
Piotr Konieczny, a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh, recommended that professors require students to create or edit Wikipedia articles as a classroom exercise. By turning students into Wikipedia editors, he argued, professors could encourage collaborative scholarship and alleviate the tedium of solitary paper-writing.
The professors might also be doing the Web site a favor, Mr. Konieczny said: "Perhaps having students all around the world contribute to Wikipedia is what we need to sustain its exponential growth."
At today’s keynote speech, Brewster Kahle—head of the Internet Archive—celebrated the success of the open-source encyclopedia. "Something big is going on," he said, noting that Wikipedia is now the world’s 15th most popular Web site. Mr. Kahle urged the encyclopedia to develop a system for helping its writers cite their own sources—a request that drew applause from many conference attendees.
The conference, which runs for three days, concludes tomorrow. —Brock Read
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It’s great to see the Chronicle covering the education track at the conference. Let me ellaborate on one key issue: that Wikipedia would benefit from students contributions is a minor point, compared to the fact that the entire world would benefit from them – and that students would see writing papers is something millions of people do for fun, and does not have to be viewed as a boring assignment. If we can make the students learn more efficiently, help others and have fun – all at the same time – this will be something to write about :)
— Piotr Konieczny Aug 7, 10:07 AM #