Dear fellow Wikipedians:
This is to let you know about my most recent article, co-authored with former student Kate Rattray. We’re especially proud of this piece, in which we make a pedagogical and public-service case for writing and editing Wikipedia articles for law school credit. The article has just been published in the Journal of Legal Education, which, appropriately, is an open-access journal. The current volume can be found here: http://jle.aals.org/home/. You can also read an abstract and download the article from my SSRN (Social Sciences Research Network) website, here: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2729241.
Yours truly,
John Kleefeld
Associate Professor, College of Law
University of Saskatchewan
15 Campus Drive
Saskatoon SK S7N 5A6
tel: (+1) 306.966.1039
email: john.kleefeld(a)usask.ca
skype: johnkleefeld
twitter: @johnkleefeld
web: http://law.usask.ca/find-people/faculty/kleefeld-john.php
Good evening, Professor Christie. My name is Lixxx235, and I'm a Wikipedia
editor and an Online Ambassador with the Wikipedia Education Program. (
userpage <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Lixxx235>)
It's come to my attention (through a student's request for help via
Wikipedia's live chat) that you have given your students assignments
relating to editing Wikipedia. While the Wikipedia Education Program fully
supports such assignments, and endorses a number of courses at various
universities around the world, according to one of your students, an
assignment you've given seems to have students confused and is causing
submissions in violation of some Wikipedia policies and wasting volunteer
and student time. For example, this
<https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Fuel_controlled_fires_…>
is an entry one of your students tried to get help on from our live help
chat. This submission does not meet Wikipedia guidelines such as notability
policies, policies requiring verifiability of material, and policies
requiring a neutral point of view (NPOV) to be kept. In addition, it was
not in Wikipedia's standard format.
We'd love to get in touch with you. Please reply back to
lixxx235wikipedia(a)gmail.com and education(a)lists.wikimedia.org to see how we
can help you develop good assignments for editing Wikipedia and how we can
resolve some issues with your current assignment.
All the best,
Lixxx235
English Wikipedia
Hi all,
As we have stated in our annual plan [1], “currently, community members
must search many pages and places to stay informed about Foundation
activities and resources.” We have worked in the past two quarters to
create a single point of entry. We call it the Wikimedia Resource Center,
and its alpha version is now live on Meta Wikimedia:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Resource_Center
As the movement expands to include more affiliates and more programmatic
activities every year, newer Wikimedians are faced with lack of experience
in the movement and its various channels for requesting support. In order
to expand Wikimedia communities’ efforts, we want to provide easy access to
resources that support their very important work. The [[m:Wikimedia
Resource Center]] is a hub designed in response to this issue: it is
intended to evolve into a single point of entry for Wikimedians all over
the world to the variety of resources and types of staff support they may
need to develop new initiatives or also expand existing ones.
This version of the Resource Center is only the beginning. For phase two of
the project, we will enable volunteer Wikimedians to add resources
developed by other individuals or organizations to the Wikimedia Resource
Center, and in phase three, the Wikimedia Resource Center will include
features to better connect Wikimedians to other Wikimedians that can
support them.
We want to hear what you think about this prototype and our plans for it!
If you have comments about the Wikimedia Resource Center, you can submit
your feedback publicly, on the Talk Page, or privately, via a survey hosted
by a third party, that shouldn’t take you more than 4 minutes to complete.
A feedback button is on the top right corner on every page of the hub.
Looking forward to more collaborations!
Best,
María
[1]
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2016-2017/…
--
María Cruz
Communications and Outreach Project Manager, Community Engagement
Hello education community!
I'm very happy to announce that the new issue of This Month in Education
<https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/News> is out. There are
quite a few stories from the community ranging from students editing about
human rights to citizen science and biodiversity! The newsletter is now
monthly, so please continue to submit stories in the newsroom
<https://outreach.wikimedia.org/wiki/Education/Newsletter/Newsroom>.
wishing you a great week,
Nichole
--
*Nichole Saad*
WMF | Education Program Manager
nsaad(a)wikimedia.org
user: NSaad (WMF)
*Want to talk about the Wikipedia Education Program?*
Schedule a meeting: https://calendly.com/nsaad-1
*Nutshell: The big, blue button will soon say "Publish page" instead of
"Save page", because when you click it, the contents get published on the
internet.*
I apologize for cross-posting this to the GLAM and Education lists:
A long-requested change to the "Save" button may finally happen towards the
end of March. This is a button that anyone leading a workshop about
editing is going to talk about, so I wanted to make sure that you didn't
get surprised by this change.
Last year, the WMF looked into an old request to clarify the language on
the "Save" button, which confuses some new contributors. The main problem
is that it is unclear whether "Save" means "save a private copy" (as it
does on most websites these days) or "irrevocably post this to the
internet". This confusion apparently explains a few unwanted behaviors,
such as editors who save the page ("just to be safe") before previewing
their changes.
There are some other reasons behind to do this: It creates some
inconsistency in the interface, as some things (e.g., Special:Preferences)
get saved but kept private, while other things (e.g., normal wiki pages)
get saved and immediately published. It is also difficult to translate the
label into some languages, as the word has multiple possible translations
in some languages.
The plan, therefore, is to change "Save" to "Publish". Instead of the big
blue[1] button saying "Save page" (for a new page) or "Save changes" (when
you edit an existing page), the button will instead say "Publish page" or
"Publish changes".
The upside to this small change is that new contributors will understand
that all of their edits go to the public immediately.[2] The downside is
that all of the documentation and help pages is going to be out of date.
This plan was announced on the wikis last August, and is tentatively
scheduled for sometime in March. I hope that this extra note will keep you
from getting surprised in front of a group and give you enough time to
update any handouts that you might be using in the future.
Relevant links:
- https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T131132 – main task (best place to
figure out if this gets postponed again)
- Special:Translations&message=Publishpage
<https://translatewiki.net/w/i.php?title=Special:Translations&namespace=8&me…>
(translation
status)
- Special:Translations&message=Publishchanges
<https://translatewiki.net/w/i.php?title=Special:Translations&namespace=8&me…>
(translation
status)
[1] The color of this button in all of the older wikitext editors will be
changing this week. It's going to be big and blue.
[2] This is true even when the wiki is using FlaggedRevisions or
PendingChanges, because the un-accepted changes can be seen by the general
public from the history page or from &oldid URLs, regardless of whether the
revision has been accepted.
--
Sherry Snyder (WhatamIdoing)
Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation
Colleagues, here is my sixth blog post, the second part of a two-part set.
WikiProjects, Article Importance, and Article Quality: An Intimate Relationship (2/2) http://bit.ly/2l8fSEa
And here are the links to the previous five, in reverse chronological order:
WikiProjects, Article Importance, and Article Quality: An Intimate Relationship (1/2) http://bit.ly/2lH9hjJ
Wikipedia’s Gender Bias – and What Your Students Can Do About It http://bit.ly/2kOkSMC
What Does It Mean to Say That “Anyone Can Edit” Wikipedia? http://bit.ly/2jqMV5y
How Students Are Learning Medicine and Collaborative Skills, And Transforming Wikipedia http://bit.ly/2jt5fH7
The Wikipedia Manifesto http://bit.ly/2jGlAc1
John Kleefeld
Associate Professor, College of Law
2017 Teaching Fellow, Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching Effectiveness
University of Saskatchewan
15 Campus Drive
Saskatoon SK S7N 5A6
tel: (+1) 306.966.1039
email: john.kleefeld(a)usask.ca
skype: johnkleefeld
twitter: @johnkleefeld
web: http://law.usask.ca/find-people/faculty/kleefeld-john.php
mission: http://www.usask.ca/leadershipteam/documents/president/MissionVisionValues.…
Hi all,
many of you may be familiar with the Wikimedia Research Newsletter
(https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Newsletter , doubling as the
"Recent research" section of The Signpost on English Wikipedia), a
monthly overview of recent academic research about Wikipedia and other
Wikimedia projects.
We are planning to focus our upcoming issue on the topic of Wikipedia
in education, and would love for people from this list (and others
familiar with the topic as practictioners) to volunteer summaries or
full reviews of a number of recent papers.
See https://etherpad.wikimedia.org/p/WRN201701 for details on how to
contribute, and the list of publications we plan to include in this
issue. I'm excerpting the titles below. Publication is planned for
next Monday, February 20.
* "Teaching with Wikipedia in a 21st-century classroom: Perceptions of
Wikipedia and its educational benefits"
* "Faculty Perception of Wikipedia in the California State University System"
* "Writing for Wikipedia in the classroom: challenging official
knowledge (a case study in 12th grade)"
* "Veni, Vidi, Vicipaedia: Using the Latin Wikipedia in an Advanced
Latin Classroom"
* "Using Wikipedia to Teach Discipline Specific Writing"
* "Competencias informacionales básicas y uso de Wikipedia en entornos
educativos"
* "日本の大学生のWikipediaに対する信憑性認知，学習における利用実態とそれらに影響を与える要因"
* "Improving Information Literacy Skills through Learning To Use and
Edit Wikipedia: A Chemistry Perspective"
* "Teachers' use of Wikipedia with their Students"
* "How to motivate formal students and informal learners to
participate in Open Content Educational Resources (OCER)?" [on
Wikibooks]
* "Ninth Graders’ Use of and Trust in Wikipedia, Textbooks, and
Digital Resources From Textbook Publishers"
The newsletter is widely read both among Wikipedia community members
and among academic researchers active in the area, and we also always
try to inform researchers when their paper has been covered.
Thanks!
--
Tilman Bayer
Senior Analyst
Wikimedia Foundation
IRC (Freenode): HaeB
Colleagues, here is my fifth blog post, the first of a two-part set.
WikiProjects, Article Importance, and Article Quality: An Intimate Relationship (1/2) http://bit.ly/2lH9hjJ
And here are the links to the previous four, in reverse chronological order:
Wikipedia’s Gender Bias – and What Your Students Can Do About It http://bit.ly/2kOkSMC
What Does It Mean to Say That “Anyone Can Edit” Wikipedia? http://bit.ly/2jqMV5y
How Students Are Learning Medicine and Collaborative Skills, And Transforming Wikipedia http://bit.ly/2jt5fH7
The Wikipedia Manifesto http://bit.ly/2jGlAc1
Yours truly,
John Kleefeld
Associate Professor, College of Law
2017 Teaching Fellow, Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching Effectiveness
University of Saskatchewan
15 Campus Drive
Saskatoon SK S7N 5A6
tel: (+1) 306.966.1039
email: john.kleefeld(a)usask.ca
skype: johnkleefeld
twitter: @johnkleefeld
web: http://law.usask.ca/find-people/faculty/kleefeld-john.php
mission: http://www.usask.ca/leadershipteam/documents/president/MissionVisionValues.…
I would add 2 points when talking to educators:
1) "You can improve it!" Wikipedia welcomes EVERYONE to improve its
contents. There are policies, guidelines, and even training available,
making it a tool for all of humanity to constantly improve its contents.
2) For educators, making sure their students learn to read correctly the
Wikipedia (understanding quality issues, history of articles, and so on),
is maybe 1/3 of the educational value of the Wikipedia. the next 2/3 are
about learning how to write in it.
Vahid.
@@@ @@@ @@@
Vahid Masrour
Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/+VahidMasrour/posts
Skype: vahidmasrour2
Twitter: @vahidm <http://twitter.com/#!/vahidm>
Cel: +593 999.044.027
@@@ @@@ @@@
On Thu, Feb 16, 2017 at 9:07 AM, <education-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
wrote:
> Send Education mailing list submissions to
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>
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> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of Education digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Re: WikiProjects, Article Importance, and Article Quality: An
> Intimate Relationship (1/2)
> (Wikimedia Among Scouts :Executive Director)
> 2. Re: WikiProjects, Article Importance, and Article Quality: An
> Intimate Relationship (1/2) (Robert Connolly)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2017 17:55:43 +0530
> From: "Wikimedia Among Scouts :Executive Director"
> <shriheeran(a)gmail.com>
> To: Wikimedia Education <education(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: Re: [Wikimedia Education] WikiProjects, Article Importance,
> and Article Quality: An Intimate Relationship (1/2)
> Message-ID:
> <CAHV1meDV=fGBG5EGJYHQwgaaAATXvxNqdu80qqtZUpx2Uyafaw@mail.
> gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Thanks a lot for you Richrad, Your reply given me a refreshment. Hope I
> will give your answers if anyone tell something wrong about wikipedia.
>
> On Thu, Feb 16, 2017 at 4:08 PM, Richard Nevell <
> richard.nevell(a)wikimedia.org.uk> wrote:
>
> > Hello Shriheeran,
> >
> > I think if academics say Wikipedia can't be used as a source, we should
> > say that's absolutely correct. The English Wikipedia has a policy
> > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability#
> Wikipedia_and_sources_that_mirror_or_use_it>
> > which says that Wikipedia isn't considered a reliable source. Instead of
> > citing Wikipedia, people can use it as a starting point for research.
> >
> > Wikipedia is very open about where its information comes from, and even
> > includes warning when articles might not be high quality. I can't think
> of
> > another website which would include a warning to readers that one of its
> > pages might contain a point of view, or might need more fact checking.
> >
> > When you talk to academics about Wikipedia, is there anything in
> > particular you're asking them to do?
> >
> > Regards,
> > Richard Nevell
> >
> > On 16 February 2017 at 00:23, Wikimedia Among Scouts :Executive Director
> <
> > shriheeran(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Just I had a meeting with an it acadamic professionalist, the things got
> >> from Wikipedia are not accepted as valid. Because they say that enyone
> can
> >> edit wikipedia. That's the reason.But I said to that references are
> given
> >> to each points there and temples such as citation needed are put in
> >> WIKIPEDIA. What do you think about this? I am from srilanka.
> >>
> >> On Wed, Feb 15, 2017 at 1:15 AM, Kleefeld, John <john.kleefeld(a)usask.ca
> >
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >>> Colleagues, here is my fifth blog post, the first of a two-part set.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> *WikiProjects, Article Importance, and Article Quality: An Intimate
> >>> Relationship (1/2)* http://bit.ly/2lH9hjJ
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> And here are the links to the previous four, in reverse chronological
> >>> order:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> *Wikipedia’s Gender Bias – and What Your Students Can Do About It *
> >>> http://bit.ly/2kOkSMC
> >>>
> >>> *What Does It Mean to Say That “Anyone Can Edit” Wikipedia? *
> >>> http://bit.ly/2jqMV5y
> >>>
> >>> *How Students Are Learning Medicine and Collaborative Skills, And
> >>> Transforming Wikipedia *http://bit.ly/2jt5fH7
> >>>
> >>> *The Wikipedia Manifesto *http://bit.ly/2jGlAc1
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Yours truly,
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> John Kleefeld
> >>>
> >>> Associate Professor, College of Law
> >>>
> >>> 2017 Teaching Fellow, Gwenna Moss Centre for Teaching Effectiveness
> >>>
> >>> University of Saskatchewan
> >>>
> >>> 15 Campus Drive
> >>>
> >>> Saskatoon SK S7N 5A6
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> tel: (+1) 306.966.1039 <(306)%20966-1039>
> >>>
> >>> email: john.kleefeld(a)usask.ca
> >>>
> >>> skype: johnkleefeld
> >>>
> >>> twitter: @johnkleefeld
> >>>
> >>> web: http://law.usask.ca/find-people/faculty/kleefeld-john.php
> >>>
> >>> mission: http://www.usask.ca/leadershipteam/documents/president/Missi
> >>> onVisionValues.pdf
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> Education mailing list
> >>> Education(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> >>> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Best.
> >> Shriheeran Logeswaran.
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Education mailing list
> >> Education(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> >> https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> > --
> > Richard Nevell
> > Project Coordinator
> > Wikimedia UK - sign up to our newsletter <http://eepurl.com/cnYOw5>
> > +44 (0) 20 7065 0921 <+44%2020%207065%200921>
> >
> > Wikimedia UK is a Company Limited by Guarantee registered in England and
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> > Office 4th Floor, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London EC2A
> 4LT.
> > United Kingdom. Wikimedia UK is the UK chapter of a global Wikimedia
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> > operate Wikipedia, amongst other projects).
> >
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> > over Wikipedia nor responsibility for its contents.*
> >
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> > Education mailing list
> > Education(a)lists.wikimedia.org
> > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Best.
> Shriheeran Logeswaran.
>