Thanks for sharing! / Sophie.
2013/3/19 LiAnna Davis <[email protected]> > Really glad to see they focused in on the local work being done in Poland > and Ukraine! > > > http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/130313/wikipedia-academic-thesis-Poland-Ukraine-Egypt > > > Jakub Parusinski > March 19, 2013 06:01 > > Will Wikipedia replace the academic thesis? > > From Ukraine to Egypt, universities are looking to drop traditional > requirements for scholarly papers in favor of internet entries. > > > KYIV, Ukraine — Click on a Wikipedia topic about optometry in the Polish > language or Newtonian mechanics in Ukrainian and the article that pops up > may well be a college student thesis. > > That’s because universities in Poland and Ukraine are exploring new > requirements. Instead of cribbing research from Wikipedia for papers that > will probably only gather dust, advocates of the idea say students would be > better off writing their own Wikipedia articles. > > Although critics warn that Wikipedia articles are no substitute for > rigorous academic papers, supporters say more than simply putting more > information at public disposal, erasing boundaries between the internet and > academia will invigorate scholarship by enabling it to benefit everyone. > > "Contributing to Wikipedia considerably increases students' motivation > since their articles can be read by the whole world, not just their > teachers or supervisors," argues Sergei Petrov, one of the Wikipedia > project coordinators in the eastern city of Kharkiv, where the Kharkiv > Polytechnic Institute ran a test program during its last fall that produced > 23 new or expanded articles on Wikipedia Ukraine. > > Since anyone can edit a Wikipedia entry, point out mistakes or improve an > article's structure, the argument goes, thousands of reviewers could > lighten the load for college professors by helping out. > > The institute wants to expand the practice, and similar intitiatives are > being considered by universities in Sumy in northern Ukraine and the > capital Kyiv. > > Across the border in Poland, the Medical University in Poznan is exploring > an even more ambitious initiative: a requirement to write Wikipedia > articles that could entirely replace bachelors theses as early as this year. > > “We want to drop the requirement of writing a bachelor's thesis,” dean > Zbigniew Krasinski told local newspaper Gazeta Poznan. “These works > contribute little, are about re-writing [not original research], and take > up increasing amounts of space in the archives.” > > Lawyers are currently working out the kinks. If successfully implemented, > the scheme would institutionalize a practice currently used by individual > professors. Under the new program, which would include the entire > university, each student would work with a supervisor to develop specific > entries. > > However, some are warning Wikipedia articles may not be suited to all > disciplines. While medical terms may fit the encyclopedia's structure > nicely, it doesn't work for social sciences, says Piotr Oleksy, a doctoral > student in eastern studies at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. > > “Traditional articles or essays are better for intellectual development, > truer to the spirit of the humanities, which cannot be shelved into such > narrow categories as Wikipedia entries,” he said. “It may make sense for > medicine, but in the case of social sciences, I'm against it.” > > Both local and international Wikipedia sites are fully behind the project, > which they see as a chance to boost exposure and quality. > > One problem the academics may be able to tackle is lack of “depth,” a > rough indicator of quality based on the ratio of edits and non-articles, > such as discussion and user pages, to the total number of articles. > > Despite its maximum possible readership of just 40 million native > speakers, Polish Wikipedia is the world’s eighth largest version (down from > fourth, now occupied by the 23-million-strong Dutch speaking community). > But while English boasts the biggest depth at 748, and French has 157, the > Polish site comes in at a puny depth of 18 (Dutch is even worse at 17). > > However, hopes that Polish Wikipedia will see dramatic improvement may be > too optimistic, says Pawel Zienowicz, spokesperson for Wikimedia Poland. A > few well-written academic articles, he says, will do little to change a > statistical average determined by a myriad of trivial ones. > > “[Overall depth is determined] by entries about some village in France, > pages that are visited by five people a month, and usually by accident,” he > said. > > Nevertheless, the initiative has particular appeal in Eastern Europe, > where academic writing was long tainted by propaganda, Zienowicz says. > > Local teams that specialize in weeding out falsifications and ensuring > neutrality have made Wikipedia a more reliable source of information than > standard encyclopedias that are sometimes “filled with lies,” he said. > > The idea of having students contribute to the online knowledge repository > is gaining traction far beyond the post-communist region. Launched two > years ago, the Wikipedia Education Program encourages professors around the > world to assign writing entries as class work. > > The program has helped produce nearly 6,000 pages of published content in > its first year and almost double that in the second, thanks to a growing > flock of volunteers and more than 3,500 trained new editors. > > Another engine is institutional cooperation. Education program spokeswoman > LiAnna Davis says partnerships with Georgetown University and other > academic associations are helping promote the project. > > Wikipedia is currently focusing efforts on southern countries such as > Brazil and India as well as in the Middle East, which has been particularly > receptive. A dean at Cairo’s Ain Shams University has encouraged > instructors to replace traditional assignments with the translation of > high-quality Wikipedia articles. > > Arabic Wikipedia has seen rapid growth as a result, almost doubling in > size over the past three years, and has one of the best depth levels of any > language version at over 240. > > Twitter arguably started the Arab Spring, but it will be up to Wikipedia > to keep it going. > > > http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/130313/wikipedia-academic-thesis-Poland-Ukraine-Egypt > > > -- > LiAnna Davis > Wikipedia Education Program Communications Manager > Wikimedia Foundation > http://education.wikimedia.org > (415) 839-6885 x6649 > [email protected] > > _______________________________________________ > Education mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education > > -- *Med vänliga hälsningar, Sophie Österberg* *As far as men go, it is not what they are that interests me, but what they can become. - Jean-Paul Sartre *
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