Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2008-01-21/In the news
In the news
Not white bread
Reference books? Give me Wikipedia - In response to a professor calling Internet sources "white bread" (see archived story), the author of this article states that the notion that the Internet is eroding our research skills echoes the past mantra that the lower classes should not be taught to read. He argues that the professor is blaming the messenger and not the message, and the problems that are blamed on the Internet have always plagued students: the way that their work is marked may be reinforcing that using predigested material is acceptable. The author questions the assumption that because something is bound in book format, it is therefore more reliable.
"Party boy" article deleted
Wikipedia rejects Corey entry - Melbourne teenager Corey Delaney had a brief moment of fame on Wikipedia, but his article was deleted soon after it was created. Delaney, who held a wild party at his parents' home and attracted international media attention, was deemed not to meet Wikipedia's guidelines for inclusion; the individual in question is only notable for one event. While some argued that the case was notable because it may result in changes to local laws or policies, others believed that it was unfair to create a Wikipedia article on a 16-year-old who may later regret it and that Wikipedia is not a tabloid newspaper.
Other mentions
Other recent mentions in the online press include:
- AFP bans use of Wikipedia and Facebook as sources - Journalists at Agence France Presse are banned from using online sources such as Wikipedia or Facebook as their sole sources, without referring to other sources.
- ‘Elite’ trust business above all, study says - 55% of young US opinion leaders said Wikipedia was reliable for corporate information.
- Wikipedia Looks Toward Collaborative Video - Wikimedia has partnered with Kaltura, a collaborative video software company that the article says uses open source and open standards.
- Wikipedia celebrates seventh birthday - Wikipedia, in its seven years of existence, has allowed its users to share in the sum of all human knowledge but has also gained some detractors.
- Info at your fingertips, a lot of it probably true - Editors are interviewed in a local look at Wikipedia.
Discuss this story
"Wikimedia has partnered with Kaltura, a collaborative video software company that works with open source and open standards." -- this is, of course, bullshit, since Kaltura and Flash format are not so "open"... See eg. posts by Gregory Maxwell on wikitech-l. Signed: Free (as in Freedom) software Lover. 00:46, 25 January 2008 (UTC)