Computer Writing and Research Lab | University of Texas at Austin

Wikipedia Disputes

Submitted by gavinbenke on September 18, 2007 - 10:00pm

So I was preparing to start off class today with a brief warning about using Wikipedia as a source when I checked out the site's entry for "globalization."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalization

I was struck by the number of "dubious - discuss" tags throughout.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Globalization#Dubious

In most of this section, the discussion centers around suggested wordings and rewrites, use of evidence, etc.

I will definitely work this into my class at some point in the next week or two, but wanted to know if anyone has used this feature of Wikipedia as a teaching tool.

Thoughts or suggestions?

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wikipedia in the classroom

Submitted by Jim Brown on September 19, 2007 - 6:44am.

In my "Literature and Computer Programming" course, we looked at and edited this page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microserfs

We had read Douglas Coupland's Microserfs, and students had plenty to add to the page. And yes, discussion pages are an excellent place to dive into a discussion of argument/rhetoric. You might also check out the Wikipedia Village Pump. This is where Wikipedia contributors hash out policies and disagreements.

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