Like I said before, great job for both Israel and Serbia !
There is one very important issue that we (as WM Chapters) need to address,
now that Wikipedia editing will be part of the official school curriculum.
How do we answer teachers or parents raising concerns about the so-called
"adult" material found on Wikipedia ? Some of it is downright porn, and we
(as Chapters) have to be able to answer these concerns.
[[:fr:Catégorie:Position sexuelle]] = [[:en:Category:Sex positions]] =
other interwikis
or
Commons: Category:Wiki-Sexuality Images
The Geneva education department has an Internet filter that blocks some of
the articles on the English wiki, for example
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingering_(sexual_act) is blocked, but does not
filter the French wiki
fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doigtage. Obviously, the web
filter companies are US (aka English speaking), so they may or may not
filter other language Wikipedia pages. What we absolutely should avoid is
this type of web filtering, and certainly not such filtering done by
separate countries.
Please note that I have always been opposed to censorship in general and
opposed to censoring Wikimedia in particular. The issue has been raised a
few times over the past few years, and I have always been able to provide
adequate answers to the parents or school officials. But now that Wikipedia
editing is a part of the official curriculum, these questions need a more
"official" answer as well. Information should be freely available to all,
even so-called "adult" information. As a school teacher using the web in
class, I have to keep a watch on the web sites the students browse and
discuss with them how to deal with inappropriate web sites that slip
through the filters. I do the same when my students start surfing on sex-ed
related Wikipedia articles...
I can just imagine the uproar in Israel when one or the other of the more
conservative religious groups finds out the kind of articles young students
are subjected to in class... I say that for Israel, but the same uproar
will be possible in some of the Swiss Cantons when Wikipedia editing
becomes an official part of their curriculum (each Canton has its own
curriculum, some Cantons include religious education, some do not, and so
on). We need, at the very least, a set of arguments we can use to defend
Wikipedia. For the moment, nobody has said anything, probably because
adults are usually not very curious. Our kids, on the other hand, tend to
explore a lot more...
Anyway, that was some food for thought. I am looking forward to learning
about how you will cope with that kind of issue, I know that the same
problem might arise some day here in Switzerland.
Gabe
On Fri, Jun 13, 2014 at 2:48 PM, Vojtěch Dostál <vojtech.dostal(a)wikimedia.cz
wrote:
> Below is my Wednesday e-mail which was denied from the conversation
> because I sent it from an incorrect adress:
>
> ---
>
> Congratulations to Israel and Serbia!
>
> Now comes the tough job for you, though! You have to prove to the public &
> to the teachers that Wikipedia is actually worth having in the school
> curriculum. The worst scenario is teachers and parents going crazy about
> the latest government's invention. You should really make Wikipedia as
> beneficial to the students as possible, and you also need to prepare the
> community for an enormous workload!
>
> Not an easy job, but worth working for!
>
> Good luck both of you, and I will be looking forward to the first results.
>
> Vojtěch Dostál
> vice-chair
> Wikimedia Czech Republic
>
>
> 2014-06-11 8:52 GMT+02:00 Oona Castro <oonacastro(a)gmail.com>om>:
>>
>> excellent news! congratulations!
>>>
>>> Did you guys see Israel is also to get Wikipedia included in the
>>> curriculum of public schools? Sorry for crossposting in case it has been
>>> shared here:
>>>
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=18059
>>>
>>> I'm really excited to hear and learn more about these initiatives,
>>> though I'm really concerned about our limitations in the Brazilian
>>> education system.
>>>
>>> Oona
>>>
>>>
>>> On 11 June 2014 03:42, Nurunnaby Chowdhury <nh(a)nhasive.com
wrote:
>>>
>>>> Wow..excellent news Mile!
>>>> Congratulations..
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Nurunnaby Chowdhury | @nhasive
>>>> Sysop, Bengali Wikipedia | User: Nhasive
>>>> Member, IEG, WMF
>>>> Ambassador, OK Bangladesh
>>>> Sent from my iPhone device
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Jun 11, 2014 at 4:55 AM, Shani <shani.even(a)gmail.com
wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Great news, Mile!
>>>>> Looking forward to seeing you in London and hear some more, :-)
>>>>> Shani.
>>>>> On 11 Jun 2014 01:31, "Jens Best"
<jens.best(a)wikimedia.de
wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> That's really great news. Congratulations to all people
involved in
>>>>>> preparing and realizing this important success.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> best regards
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Jens Best
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Präsidium - Board of Trustees
>>>>>> Wikimedia Deutschland e.V.
>>>>>> web:
http://www.wikimedia.de
>>>>>> mail: jens.best <http://goog_17221883>@wikimedia.de
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Wikimedia Deutschland - Gesellschaft zur Förderung Freien Wissens
e.
>>>>>> V.
>>>>>> Eingetragen im Vereinsregister des Amtsgerichts
>>>>>> Berlin-Charlottenburg unter der Nummer 23855 B. Als gemeinnützig
>>>>>> anerkannt durch das Finanzamt für Körperschaften I Berlin,
>>>>>> Steuernummer 27/681/51985.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 2014-06-10 23:13 GMT+02:00 Mile Kiš
<milens(a)vikimedija.org>rg>:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hello everyone!
>>>>>>> I am honored to inform you that several months of
integrating
>>>>>>> Wikipedia into primary and secondary schools in Serbia has
finally paid off!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> After the Ministry has prescribed that from September 2014
all
>>>>>>> students of the second year of secondary school curriculum
*must
>>>>>>> study wiki tools*, Institute for the Improvement of knowledge
and
>>>>>>> education has included a course on Wikipedia in its catalog
of programs of
>>>>>>> continuous professional development of teachers, professors
and other
>>>>>>> school personnel. We got accreditation for two years. Not a
lot applicants
>>>>>>> got accreditation.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> This course will start in December.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> first challenge we successfully crossed :) next will come.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I started writing blog post about this and hope it will be
ready on
>>>>>>> 20 June.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> If you have some questions I will be happy to answer you :)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Mile Kiš
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Vikimedija Srbije -
rs.wikimedia.org -
>>>>>>> 00381 (0)60 7 454 772
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> „Zamislite svet u kome svaka osoba ima slobodan pristup
celokupnom
>>>>>>> ljudskom znanju. To je ono na čemu mi radimo.“
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>> Education mailing list
>>>>>>> Education(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>>>>>>>
https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> Education mailing list
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>>>>>>
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>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Education mailing list
>>>>> Education(a)lists.wikimedia.org
>>>>>
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>>>>>
>>>>>
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>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
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>>>
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>>
>
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