Hi all -

As a librarian who uses and supports Wikipedia, I wanted to bring up some issues around the BuzzFeed article posted today about M-Journal that has led to some messaging from the WikipediaUK twitter account that I find concerning. I'm not sure if this is the appropriate place to bring this up, but I wasn't sure where else to reach out.

For those who missed, a citation cite is not manufacturing journal articles if a student submits a Wiki article so that it looks like an "official" citation in their school research papers.

Clearly there are some nefarious potential uses here, but what's more concerning is that the WikiUK twitter account has come forward forcefully saying that Wikipedia shouldn't be cited in the literature. Period.

I work very hard to improve the cite through my courses and academic advocacy as do many librarians. It's concern to me to see Wikipedia undermining its own authority in such a public way in what appears to be a misguided attempt to deflect association with the MJournal site.

Would welcome any insight or ideas on how to navigate this discussion. The entire M-Journal use case exists, imho, because we are still battling for a critical (not blanket acceptance) view of Wiki as a resources, and I find this kind of public statement to be very damaging to the hard work so many are doing to create a quality information resource.

Best,

Kathleen DeLaurenti