What is the greater good?

[Barkeep49]

As part of my teaching job I teach a series of lessons on conducting research on the internet. One such lesson is on Wikipedia. I teach at a K-12 school and the page was obviously written by high school student and is written from the point of view creating misleading or incorrect information on the page. Much of the information on the page is uncited, though not all. This allows me to get to my message that while Wikipedia can be unreliable (and that it can be hard to know if it's unreliable or not) that it can be a great way of finding sources which are reliable.

I was bored at work today and so I went through and fixed many of the problems I'd identified while also adding far more citations. Now I'm debating whether I want to actually post these changes. Since we're a small school I wonder whether too many people who don't go to the school actually check the page in the first place. But the work has been done.

So what do you think: is the greater good my ability to use a very practical example about the perils of Wikipedia or is the greater good having a superior Wikipedia page?

[Greyroofoo]

Make the changes. Can't you view old edits on Wiki anyways? If not just print out the old page for your class.

[JonInMiddleGA]

{scratches head}

I'd show them the problems first to get the teaching benefit out of it, then change the page.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Greyroofoo

Make the changes. Can't you view old edits on Wiki anyways? If not just print out the old page for your class.

What he said

SI

[Barkeep49]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

{scratches head}

I'd show them the problems first to get the teaching benefit out of it, then change the page.

I've done the lesson this school year. I'll want to revisit it next school year, though.

[DaddyTorgo]

so just save an html file with the old page and then you can print it whenever you want

[Marc Vaughan]

Archive the page then let your students spot the errors and show them the corrected page (or personally I'd allow them to 'help you' correct the page - some of the geekier ones would probably find it neat that they'd done something which real people will come across and read).

[stevew]

Change the page. Then kick the douchebag power trippin wiki mod in the balls after he overrides your changes.

[Barkeep49]

A bit of a confession. I had actually already changed the page before I posted this thread. I'm glad to get confirmation that I wasn't an idiot for doing so.

[Barkeep49]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

Archive the page then let your students spot the errors and show them the corrected page (or personally I'd allow them to 'help you' correct the page - some of the geekier ones would probably find it neat that they'd done something which real people will come across and read).

The Director of Academic Technology doesn't want kids editing Wikipedia at school, despite the fact that we use wikis with some projects. I show the kids how to edit on Wikipedia and if a kids interested I figure they'll do it on their own. 1 out of 36 has done so each of the past two years.

Originally Posted by stevew

Change the page. Then kick the douchebag power trippin wiki mod in the balls after he overrides your changes.

I'd be amazed if any wiki mod had ever visited the page.

[SirFozzie]

Speaking as a Wikipedia Administrator, thanks, Barkeep.

Wikipedia's not perfect. Trust me, being an admin, you have to be knowledgeable about the problems that CAN plague Wikipedia.

For example, one of my long term jobs is trying to keep the two sides relatively neutral on articles related to "The Troubles" of Northern Ireland. Talk about sides that A) Have a vested interest in working on the encyclopedia and B) Making sure that the various Wikipedia pages reflect THEIR side of the story.

In other words, Arrrrggggggghhhhh!

But seriously, if it will help, you can tell them an admin says this:

"If you take what Wikipedia says as gospel truth, you're not using your brain. Wikipedia's an ok way to get an overview, but it's better at pointing you at the place where you can learn more."

(and if you want, send me a PM with the link to your article, I'll add it to my watchlist of articles to keep an eye on)

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by stevew

Change the page. Then kick the douchebag power trippin wiki mod in the balls after he overrides your changes.

Oi! No kicking me in the groin, y'hear?

[SackAttack]

Fozzie has balls?

[SirFozzie]

I KEEL YOU NOW!!!!!!

[Shkspr]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

I KEEL YOU NOW!!!!!!

Out of idle curiosity, do you usually find that quoting a Halloween decoration with a hand up its ass presents itself as a POSITIVE affirmation of your masculinity?

[DanGarion]

I loved it the last time I checked Time Warner Cable and the name was changed to Time Warner Cable Sucks!...

Great modding there Fozzie...

[Celeval]

In the future go to the history of that page and show the various edits - to show not only the possible untrustworthiness, but how an article can evolve from a bad one to a good one.

[PineTar]

crusty jugglers

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

I loved it the last time I checked Time Warner Cable and the name was changed to Time Warner Cable Sucks!...

Great modding there Fozzie...

Usually, vandalism is caught by a group of admins that patrol the "Recent Changes" page (a list of the 100 most recent edits), but not always. It's not going to be perfect (as much as I would like it to). Don't get me started on the various vandals who make it their long term goal to disrupt Wikipedia. *grumps*