Tag: wikipedia
Twitter to be taught to ten-year-olds
The UK government announced today that it wants to teach Twitter in primary schools as part of a campaign to make online communication and social media part of the national curriculum. Kids will also be taught to use Wikipedia, how to blog, and proper typing skills alongside traditional handwriting skills.
The plans, which also remove the Victorians and Second World War from the primary syllabus, were going to be launched next month, but leaked early in the Guardian. Analysts and teacher groups have cautiously welcomed the moves, though they wonder why current trends are being given so much weight.
Personally, I’m glad that Wikipedia, blogging and proper keyboard usage are being taught – all of those are, for the moment, here to stay. I’m a little confused, though, as to why Twitter has been singled out. It’s not that revolutionary and, even speaking as a heavy user, it’s current prominence in the news is surely no more than a passing media fad caused by high-profile celebrities joining up. Students should certainly understand online communication, but I’m not convinced Twitter is the best way to show them.
What do you think? Tell us on Twitter – and no, the irony of that isn’t lost on me – @techdigest.
Guardian (via Techcrunch UK)
Wikipedia eyes introduction of 'flagged revisions' worldwide
Wikipedia is considering banning unregistered users from making alterations to certain articles. It would be a radical policy change for the Encyclopedia whose slogan is “the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit”.
Last week, during President Obama’s inauguration lunch, US Senators Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd were both taken ill, quite seriously in the case of Kennedy. They have both since recovered, however shortly after the event, their Wikipedia entries read that they had died.
Although the changes were removed within five minutes of going up, the site’s founder, Jimmy Wales, went on record saying that a “flagged revisions” system would have prevented the problem. Such a system has been trialed on the German Wikipedia, and means that any unregistered edits have to be approved by a ‘trusted editor’ before they appear to the public.
Encyclopaedia Britannica admits defeat – allows users to add content
Encyclopaedia Britannica has for years resisted pressure to join Wikipedia in allowing just anyone to submit content – relying instead on 100 full-time editors and 4,000 ‘expert contributors’. As a result, it’s slow to react to events and studies have shown that it’s comparably error-ridden .
In the next 24 hours, however, the Encyclopaedia’s website will begin accepting user-generated content. However, it still won’t be as free as Wikipedia – any changes or additions will have to be vetted by the site’s “experts”, and any would-be editors will have to register their real name and address(!) before being allowed to contribute.
Still, any changes made will eventually appear in the printed version of the Encylopaedia, which only gets reprinted every two years. I’ll stick with editing Wikipedia, thanks, and take my chances with the spammer police, endless bureaucracy and edit wars.
T-Mobile adds Last.fm and Wikipedia to its mobile jukebox service
This is potentially game-changing for mobile music. T-Mobile has added music-discovery functionality from Last.fm to its mobile jukebox service. The addition means that users of the service can simply put in an artist’s name, and they’ll receive a list of other musicians that they might like.
With each option presented, you’ll have the option to stream a 30 second preview (why not a full preview?) and then buy the track. Users will also get plenty of biographical info about the artist, thanks to a partnership with Wikipedia.
IWF reverses Wikipedia block decision
Following massive negative publicity after blocking British internet users from accessing pages on Wikipedia, the Internet Watch Foundation has reversed overruled its own appeals process and once again allowed access to the site.
The block came about after a member of public complained about this page (potentially NSFW) on the English Wikipedia, displaying the album art for a record called Virgin Killer. The art features a young girl naked with a crack in the plastic concealing her genitalia, but nothing obscuring her chest.
Half of teachers think the internet's useful, half don't, and 20% don't understand it at all
That long-winded headline is the summary of a survery carried out by LM Research, which interviewed 1,500 teachers, parents and students about how the internet is changing the classroom.
Half of teachers think that internet tools like Wikipedia are good, but half think they’re of no educational use and simply distract the youth of today…
Wikia Search – another search engine trying to take on Google
Another week, another search engine trying to take Google on. This time it’s Wikia Search. It’s the brainchild of Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, and he’s been speaking about his people-powered search engine at the Global Brand Forum in Singapore.
Toilet clogs, tooth pain, athlete's foot and lung cancer – Google Knol launches today
Good lord, Google has finally done something massively, terribly, horribly and publicly WRONG and BAD – thrust Google Knol upon an uncaring world.
The worthy and serious supposed competitor to Wikipedia, which features by-lined articles so you can apparently “trust” the writer more, has now gone public. And it’s great news – if you really need a guide to unblocking toilets in a hurry.
Or if you fancy reading about…
eMusic 2.0 as relaunched music site adds YouTube & Wikipedia
The mercifully DRM-free music download service eMusic has relaunched its website today and gone all web 2.0 on our arse with addition of both YouTube and Wikipedia content.
The updated album page will show you music videos, information…
German Wikipedia trials approval system in attempt to thwart vandals
Think of Wikipedia and what comes to mind? Articles containing less than accurate information, personal opinion, propaganda, and vandalism, perhaps?
Vandals have long plagued the open editing system that underlies the Wikipedia system. The strength of allowing contribution from the masses is also a downfall as people hijack articles for their own causes or amusement.
Now, the German version of Wikipedia wants to fight back, and is to begin trials of a moderation system that will keep page edits private until a “checker” reviews and approves it…
