On 7/16/07, Thomas Dalton thomas.dalton@gmail.com wrote:
Well, to the extent that those schools or libraries are publicly funded I'm not sure I agree that it's strictly "their choice" (depends on who the "they" is), but I'm also not convinced that the decision is the wrong one.
You think schools are right to block Wikipedia? I would think teaching their pupils how to correctly use encyclopedias would be the better choice.
Yes, I think in some situations schools are right to block Wikipedia. I certainly don't plan on letting my son access the website unsupervised when he's ten, and I sure hope whatever school I send him to does the same.
Traditional encyclopedias are one thing. Encyclopedias with the explicit content contained in Wikipedia when it's not vandalized are another thing. And "encyclopedias" which encourage alteration by anyone for any reason without any review are yet another thing. The latter two are both reasons that I think schools are sometimes in the right to block Wikipedia (it contains explicit content even when not vandalized, and is editable by anyone).
Anthony