Tag: Wikipedia

Eye Rolls, Corporatization, and Wikipedia

I’m once again teaching my first-year composition course about Wikipedia, and so on the lookout for when the “free encyclopedia that anyone can edit” makes the news. Notable stories in the past couple years include the lamentable scarcity of female editors (and the abuse those few female editors face), manipulation by marketing firms, and grudge-holders

Wikipedia Assignments: some thoughts from mid-semester

Right now I’m teaching a first-year composition class, themed around Wikipedia. This is the third iteration, redesigned with the support of a Faculty Instructional Technology Integration grant, and mid-semester seems like an appropriate moment to share some thoughts about the course. The first section explains the background, but if you just want some tips for

Wikipedia, Open Access, and the Sciences

This week (October 21-27) is Open Access Week, when universities, colleges, libraries, funding agencies, and other interested parties come together to ask questions about who owns the research they produce and/or pay for. If you’re reading this blog, you probably already know the importance of these debates: the dominance of companies like Elsevier, which make