There are two questions here, and I think it's important to look at them separately:
* How does systemic bias manifest in what is kept, and what is not, on Wikipedia?
* What is the best way for a student to engage with Wikipedia?

I'd like to address the second one, where I have more experience. It depends on what learning outcomes aiming for. If you're looking to give the student some practical experience with Wikipedia, in a general way -- which is what I've done -- I would strongly urge you to design your lessons in a way that guide students away from topics where notability is a substantial concern (grey areas) in their early edits. Put them in a context where they are more likely to have productive encounters, than difficult arguments.

If you're looking to have the students engage with Wikipedia's systemic bias, I think it might be more worthwhile to have them evaluate existing deletion debates (and similar discussions) -- rather than having them contribute directly to Wikipedia. I think it would be easier for them to look at a larger number of cases, and observe without having their personal attachment to an article come into play, if they read stuff that they haven't been involved in.

-Pete
[[User:Peteforsyth]]


On Tue, Jul 22, 2014 at 10:39 AM, Kathleen McCook <klmccook@gmail.com> wrote:
The reason I asked to discuss here is to ascertain whether or not there seems to be a different set of notability standards by gender.

I encourage students to contribute to Wikipedia.
But when notability is an editor's decision with so many exceptions...how do you encourage?

Really, I am careful and if a book by a brilliant woman like Zoe Wicomb causes notability queries..how, on earth, can this gender gap be addressed?

Here is Ms. Wicomb's prize announcement at Yale.
http://windhamcampbell.org/2013/winner/zo%C3%AB-wicomb





On Tue, Jul 22, 2014 at 1:11 PM, Pete Forsyth <peteforsyth@gmail.com> wrote:
On Tue, Jul 22, 2014 at 10:03 AM, Daniel and Elizabeth Case <dancase@frontiernet.net> wrote:
 
On what basis in Clive Cussler notable? 
That he’s a regular denizen of the bestseller lists in many countries who’s had works adapted into major motion pictures (To be honest, I think we should say that “all published works by authors who have their paperbacks displayed prominently in the racks near the front of bookstores at airports are notable Smile“).

Well, I don't know. I had never heard of Cussler before today (don't spend a lot of time in airport bookshops), but I did look at a couple of his novels' Wikipedia articles, and they didn't indicate significance any better than the October article. (One of them had a single, ephemeral reference; the other had 7 that seemed pretty thin.)

I can see how Kathleen would be frustrated by what surely appears from her perspective to be a double standard.

Pete
[[User:Peteforsyth]]

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