Middlebury College vs. Wikipedia

Middlebury College is proud to have taken a stand against Wikipedia this year:

Members of the Vermont institution’s history department voted unanimously in January to adopt the statement, which bans students from citing the open-source encyclopedia in essays and examinations.

Without entirely dismissing Wikipedia — “whereas Wikipedia is extraordinarily convenient and, for some general purposes, extremely useful…” — the decision paints it with a broad brush — “as educators, we are in the business of reducing the dissemination of misinformation.” (Though a site search reveals it’s frequently cited there.)

Chandler Koglmeier’s op-ed response in the student newspaper, however, was rather pointed:

[Professor Waters' states that] “the articles can improve over time, but there’s always an [emphasis on] change rather than something finalized.” I wasn’t aware that knowledge was a static thing. [...] I think you should talk to our nation’s medical schools. They seem to have advanced beyond the world of Hippocrates and the Greek doctors in the past few years and might be teaching something that is dangerous.

Intrigue, indeed. My question is how will Middlebury students be taught to evaluate their information sources after they leave college? Who will tell them what to trust then?

ban, information literacy, middlebury, middlebury college, wikipedia

25 Comments

  1. Comment by John Martin on February 22, 2007 10:17 am

    It amazes me that for all our education we still insist upon attacking the symptoms of a problem rather than addressing the cause. The real issue here is the need to cultivate a digital literacy in not only our learners, but our faculty as well. Information changes far too rapidly for any print text to ever hope to keep up. For many resources, as soon as they finally make it to print, they are already obsolete.

    Rather than rehash my post, I’ll just let folks take a peek here: http://www.whitemountaintech.net/wordpress/2007/01/29/attacking-the-symptoms/

    Thanks for your post Casey, it helps breed awareness!

    John

    [tags]wikipedia, digital-literacy, information-literacy[/tags]

  2. Comment by Alcibiades on February 27, 2007 7:32 pm

    Hear hear, my good man! I believe T.S. Eliot’s phrase ‘hypocrite lecteur’ sums up Middlebury’s standpoint quite well, although ‘hypocrite lecturer’ might be a bit more appropriate, given the situation.

    Personally, I tell my students to evaluate information on Wikipedia like they would any other source: critically. After all, any quack can write a book

    [tags]education, hypocrisy, middlebury, critical thinking[/tags]

  3. Pingback by » Wikipedia The Wonder on May 11, 2007 2:23 pm

    [...] Middlebury College banned it, but 46% of college students and 50% of college grads use it. [...]

  4. Comment by Laurence Ross on July 28, 2007 8:32 pm

    Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, spoke about this issue at the Common Wealth Club in San Francisco recently (July 2007). If you would like to see a write up of what he said, check out The Bay Area Intellect.

  5. Comment by Trevor Owen on November 10, 2007 10:40 am

    There are plenty of good reasons to not allow Wikipedia as a source. As a student, I’ve felt the urge to cite it on numerous occasions, but I understand why it’s not a good idea. It’s too easy for people with an agenda, or for people who think it’s funny/entertaining, to go in and edit pages. While it is rare, I have seen it happen. What Wikipedia does do though is allow a student to get a broad image of what they’re researching, and then from there research pertinent information.

    The easiest thing to do is just go to the bottom of the page and use the links to information that the authors of the Wikipedia page cited themselves (as long as those sources have any sort of authority on the subject of course).

  6. Comment by Casey Bisson on November 12, 2007 3:52 pm

    @Trevor Owen:

    All sources are subject to the same criticism. Understanding that is just one aspect of information literacy that we need to be teaching. Pick any article, anywhere and ask yourself “who wrote this and what are his/her biases?”

    Wikipedia makes answering that question a little easier by allowing a reader to see other contributions an author has made, and giving a clear space for people to debate an issue.

  7. Comment by salah_missen on November 14, 2007 5:58 pm

    good

  8. Comment by mehri on December 22, 2007 2:05 pm

    send me sex pictures

  9. Comment by djonline on January 17, 2008 12:37 am

    barm ax befrest
    mamnooooon.

  10. Comment by ali on January 22, 2008 11:46 am

    ba

  11. Comment by hamid on January 27, 2008 8:00 am

    befres biad mersi

  12. Comment by adib on January 31, 2008 3:33 pm

    hello

  13. Comment by mostafa on February 5, 2008 4:33 am

    photos sexy

  14. Comment by saeed on February 9, 2008 11:11 am

    please send pic and dastan

  15. Comment by farhad on February 9, 2008 3:31 pm

    axhaye bahal

  16. Comment by amir on February 12, 2008 3:17 am

    dastane sexi

  17. Comment by elyase elyasi on February 17, 2008 10:05 am

    man adam ehsasati hastam va hame ra dust daram

  18. Comment by alex on February 20, 2008 8:30 am

    film

  19. Comment by alex on February 20, 2008 8:32 am

    sex image

  20. Comment by vahid on March 8, 2008 4:57 pm

    send me sexy image and sexy film

  21. Comment by mori on March 9, 2008 3:35 pm

    sex

  22. Comment by danyal on March 28, 2008 5:05 pm

    pleas send sexi pictures

  23. Comment by amir Cunnilinctus on April 11, 2008 7:49 am

    ????? ? ???? ? ?? ???? ??????
    ???? ????
    ?? ???????
    ????? ????
    ????? ????
    ????? ?? ???
    biveye tehrani
    ey khoshgele mamani

    hal midi be jahani
    dar bi saro samani

    sighe tooye eslame
    kiram vasat che rame

    oon orjinalo khame
    da fekre 2,3 kame

    begoo are begoo are begoo ke kir too kose to gereftare!
    vay daram koskhol mishsm!

  24. Comment by hadi on April 15, 2008 6:18 am

    sex photo

  25. Comment by tajrish on April 25, 2008 5:30 am

    send me sexy image and sexy film

Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI

Leave a comment

 

User contributed tags for this post:

?????? ???? (441) - ??? ?? (421) - ??? ???? (380) - ???? ??? (339) - ?????? ? ? ? ? (308) - ??? ? (246) - ??? ? ? ? (237) - ??? ? ? ? ? (234) - ? ? ? (219) - ??? 18 (208) - ??? ??? (195) - ?? ??? (184) - ??? ??? ???? (155) - ??? ????? (144) - ??? ???? ??? (144) - ??? ??????? ???? (142) - ??? ??????? (140) - ?????? ??? (120) - ?????? ? ? ? (120) - ?????? ??? ? ? ? ?????? ???? (117) - ?????? ???? ??? (114) - ?????? ?-?-?-? (114) - ?????? ?? (106) - ?????? ? (104) - ?????? 18 (102) - ?????? ????? (94) - ?????? ???? ???? (94) - ??? ?? ?? (89) - ???? 18 (84) - ????????? ???? (83) - ????? (79) - ??? ? ? (72) - ??? ? ?????? ???? (72) - ??? ??? ??? (69) - ?? ???? (66) - ? ? ? ? (66) - ?? ? (64) - ?????? ???? ???? ??? (61) - ??? ? ?????? (55) - ?? (52) - middlebury college wikipedia (52) - ?? ?? (50) - ? ?? (49) - ??? ??? ?? (47) - ??? ? ?? (47) - ???? (45) - ??? ??? ???? ??? (45) - ???? ??? ??? (44) - ??? ??? ????? (44) - ??? ??? ? ? ? ? (43) - ??? (42) - ??? ? ??? (41) - ??? ? ? ?? (41) - ????????? ? ? ? ? (41) - ? ? ? ??? (38) - ??? xxl (37) - dastane sexi (37) - ?????? ??? ???? (36) - wikipedia (33) - ?????? ? ??? (32) - middlebury wikipedia (32) -  (31) - ?????? ? ??? ???? (31) - ?????? xxl (29) - ??? ??? ? ? ? (29) - ????????? ? ? ? (27) - ? ? (27) - ??? ?? ? (27) - wikipedia middlebury (27) - ??? ???? 18 (26) - ??? ? ?????? ? ? ? (26) - ?? 18 (26) - http://www google com/search (25) - middlebury (24) - ? (23) - ?? 30 (22) - ????????? ????? (22) - ?????? ???? 18 (22) - http://www google com/ (21) - ??? ??? xxl (21) - ??? ??? ? (21) - ?????? ? ?? (20) - ??? ? ?? ? (20) - ??? ???? ???? ??? (20) - ?????? ???? ?? (19) - ? ??? (19) - ????? ? ???? (19) - ??? ??????? ??? (19) - ??? ? ?? ?? (18) - wikipedia middlebury college (18) - ?????? ??? ? ? ? ? (18) - ?????? ???? ???? ???? (18) - 18 ??? (18) - ??? ???? ?? ??? (17) - ???? ??? 18 (17) - ?????? ? ? (16) - ?????? ?? ? (16) - sex (16) - ?????? ? ? ?? (16) - ?????? ??? ?? (16) - wwwpornopl (16) - ??? ??*? (16) - ?????? ??? ? (15) - ?????? ??? ? ? ? (15) - ??? ?????? (14) - ?????? ?? ?? (14) - ???? ?? (14) - ????????? ??? (14) - ?????? ??? ??? (14) - Middlebury College and Wikipedia (14) - ??? ??? ???? ???? ??? (14) - ??? ?? 18 (14) - ??? ?? 30 (13) - ??? ?? ???? (13) - dastanhaye sexi (13) - wikipedia college (13) - F (13) - ??? ? ?????? ? ? ? ? (13) - ? ? ? ?????? (12) - ?????? ?/?/?/? (12) - ???? ???? (12) - ????????? ? (12) - ?????? ??? ???? ??? (12) - ??? ??? ?? ?? (12) - ?? ?? ??? (12) - 122 ??? ?? (12) - ????????? ?? (11) - ??? ?????? ???? (11) - wikipedia and middlebury college (11) - ??? ???? ??????? (11) - site:maisonbisson com ?????? ???? (11) - ??? ???? ???? (10) - ??????? ???? (10) - ?? ?? image (10) - 122 (10) - ??? ? ????????? ???? (10) - ??? ???? ??? ?? (10) - ???? ? (9) - ??? ? ?????? ?. ?.? (9) - ??? ???? ?? (9) - ?????? ??? ????? (9) - ??? ?? ???? ??? (9) - ? ? ? pink (9) - ? ? ? ? ??? (9) - ??? ? ?????? ??? ???? (9) - ?????? ???? ? ??? (9) - ??? ? ?????? ?? (9) -