Writing Wikipedia as coursework

• 

  Posted by Michael Mandiberg (they/them) on January 20, 2012 at 3:48 pm

  Apologies for the cross-posting!

  I gave an interesting assignment last semester that asked students to complete their research paper as an article on Wikipedia. My course was recently profiled on the Wikimedia Foundation blog.

  http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/01/04/design-professor-gives-students-real-world-experiences-through-wikipedia-assignment/

  Of particular note, the article covers my reflections on the way working on Wikipedia changes students relationship to power, forces/inspires them to do real research, inspires them to work for the greater good, and curtails/moderates plagiarism.

  I will be trying a shorter version of the assignment with the Core 2 seminar in the Interactive Technology and Pedagogy Certificate Program at the Grad Center. More on that as it develops.

  Michael

• Sarah Ruth Jacobs

  Participant

  January 21, 2012 at 7:35 pm

  Very exciting. Nice work! So it seems as though you vetted the students’ writing before they posted it on Wikipedia? The MOMA experience sounds great…way to stimulate your students.
  Carl James Grindley

  Participant

  January 21, 2012 at 8:17 pm

  I think that it’s a good assignment and certainly provides students with an extremely stimulating experience. I have my problems with wikipedia, mostly with some of its “editors” aggressive defense–using the wikipedia tenet of neutral tone–to repeatedly defend pedophilia. For that reason, and that reason alone, I try to discourage wikipedia’s use and I always point out how easy it is to vandalize the site.
  Michael Mandiberg (they/them)

  Member

  January 22, 2012 at 12:30 pm

  @Sara, Actually no, I did not vet the students writing before they posted to Wikipedia, which is in keeping the Wikipedia ethos. I did offer them peer review via their user talk pages, and the article’s talk page. And many other WP editors jumped in and vetted the contributions by reworking them, editing them, and in some cases reverting them.

  @Carl, considering that WP is such a large entity, so you think that by focusing on the way Neutral Point of View (NPOV) is implemented in one area, that you are throwing out the baby with the bathwater?
  Bob Kosovsky

  Participant

  January 22, 2012 at 7:30 pm

  Very nice – bravo! I don’t teach the kind of courses that lend themselves to editing Wikipedia, but I once did come up with a brief syllabus for a Wikipedia course. Its focus was the idea of collaborative writing/editing. After a theoretical introduction to argumentation and debate, it would have made the students create, and then critique and edit each others’ articles, providing valid Wikipedia-based reasons for actions taken (e.g. the extensive documentation under “Wikipedia is not…”). Then it encouraged students to enter into existing controversies (e.g. articles on nearly any current political figure), as a means of understanding the communities that built up around such articles.

  An active Wikipedian myself, I’ve occasionally tried to interest others in getting involved, but I find that academics tend to be the most resistant. I feel Wikipedia is still misunderstood in much of the academic community. Nevertheless, editors can learn some great skills: the need/importance of sourcing virtually every statement, being able to evaluate the quality of sources, understanding how documentation relates to the finished product, and particularly how to collaborate and debate with others, particularly those with whom you may disagree, and how you navigate such controversies.