This is an awesome article! I love that the university departments are pursuing such institutionalization of the project. Congrats to the folks in Poland and the Ukraine!
Jami On Mar 19, 2013, at 8:54 AM, Sophie Österberg <[email protected]> wrote: > 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 > > > _______________________________________________ > Education mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/education
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