Pete Forsyth of Wiki Strategies on the potential roles for Wikipedia in higher education

1. Wikipedia in the
College Classroom
Pete Forsyth, Wiki Strategies
http://wikistrategies.net

2. Wikipedia in the
College Classroom
http://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/
Ole_Miss_talk_2012

3. Observations
Ten years ago, students were told not to cite
Wikipedia.

4. Observations
Ten years ago, students were told not to cite
Wikipedia.
Today, Wikipedia is everywhere, and two
questions rise to the surface:

5. Observations
Ten years ago, students were told not to cite
Wikipedia.
Today, Wikipedia is everywhere, and two
questions rise to the surface:
Does access to vast amounts of factual
information, in itself, make us smarter?

6. Observations
Ten years ago, students were told not to cite
Wikipedia.
Today, Wikipedia is everywhere, and two
questions rise to the surface:
Does access to vast amounts of factual
information, in itself, make us smarter?
Do we even know what to do with this flood of
information?

7. Overview
Part 1: Is Wikipedia important?
Does it help us understand broad changes
in society?

8. Overview
Part 1: Is Wikipedia important?
Does it help us understand broad changes
in society?
Part 2: Is Wikipedia useful to an educator?
Does it offer unique and beneficial teaching and
learning opportunities?

9. Overview
Part 1: Is Wikipedia important?
Does it help us understand broad changes
in society?
(YES!)
Part 2: Is Wikipedia useful to an educator?
Does it offer unique and beneficial teaching and
learning opportunities?
(YES!)

10. What is the purpose
of the academy?

11. Broad principles of ethics
In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle presented
a dilemma. Should the virtuous citizen lead:
A life of quiet contemplation
A life of political activism
?

12. A practical reality:
Many people do not have the luxury to choose.
They want to engage; and with barriers to
engagement falling…

13. A practical reality:
Many people do not have the luxury to choose.
They want to engage; and with barriers to
engagement falling…
…they are not waiting for an invitation.
See Eric Raymond,
The Cathedral and the Bazaar, 1997

14. Implications for diverse
institutions
The Museum, a Temple or the Forum
—Duncan F. Cameron, 1971
“…Wikipedia as a platform for museums to
encourage accessibility and community
dialogue”
—Lori Byrd Phillips
Wikipedian in Residence, Indianapolis Children’s Museum
U.S. Cultural Partnerships Coordinator, Wikimedia Foundation
Museum Studies graduate student

15. A practical reality:
Why can’t we have high quality information
about Michael Jackson, the Ole Miss
football program, and a local art museum
in the same place as articles about
Afghanistan and zebras?
Answer: we can, if we’re willing to build it
ourselves.

16. Free licenses
Disruption or course-correction?
A legal construct expressing:

17. Free licenses
Disruption or course-correction?
A legal construct expressing:
“I am here to share.”

18. Part 1: Something
important is happening…
…in the way society processes, deliberates,
and records knowledge.

19. New methods of knowledge
production
How is a Wikipedia article constructed?
Discussion pages
Revision history
Warning banners
WikiProjects

20. New methods of knowledge
production
use of Wikipedia…to help undergraduate
history majors learn how to think and reason
like historians.
Prof. Michael Bess, Vanderbilt
http://bit.ly/WP-history

21. Innovations to support this
model
What is surprising in the Wikipedia ecosystem?
Fund-raising model
($20 million raised, from 1 million donors.)

22. Innovations to support this
model
What is surprising in the Wikipedia ecosystem?
Fund-raising model
($20 million raised, from 1 million donors.)
Strategic planning process
(one year. 1000 volunteers. A clear direction.)

23. The public becomes
invested
“A new and profoundly different political force
has emerged in the last few months, a
constituency that identifies itself not by local
interests but as citizens of the Internet.
“Understanding who they are and what they
want is essential…”
—Larry Downes, Forbes
http://onforb.es/downesSOPA

24. Part 1: Something
important is happening…
…in the way society processes, deliberates,
and records knowledge.
Your students want to understand;
they want to be involved.

25. Disrupting cultural
institutions
British Museum
Indianapolis Children’s Museum
U.S. National Archives
QRpedia
http://glamwiki.org

26. Part 1: Something
important is happening…
…in the way society processes, deliberates,
and records knowledge.
Your students want to understand;
they want to be involved.
Academia has an important role to play;
but it must choose to participate.

27. There are more and less
effective ways to engage.
Michel Aaij
http://bit.ly/WPtenure
Tim Messer Kruse
http://bit.ly/UndueWeight

28. The vision is aspirational,
more than it is practical.
“Imagine a world in
which everyone has
access to the sum of
human knowledge.”

29. Part 2. Serving students
today & tomorrow
“Soon the acquisition of higher knowledge will
no longer be the preserve of universities:
what then? …
“What has happened to Encyclopaedia
Britannica is a dress rehearsal for what will
happen to universities unless they radically
and speedily redefine their methods and
purpose.”
—Jim Barber, University of New England
http://bit.ly/StandLastLegs

30. Part 2. Serving students
today & tomorrow
Individual professors experimenting
Wikipedia Public Policy Initiative
Wikimedia Global Education Program
AVO project, Finland
Open Educational Resources

31. Resources
Wikipedia Educators email list
Dr. Robert Cummings, Center for Writing &
Rhetoric
Teaching & Learning Center
Regional Ambassador Tony Ard:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Tony_ard
Pete Forsyth, Wiki Strategies consulting:
http://wikistrategies.net