Wikipedia in the news: 26 May 2008

High-​​school stu­dents study course on Wikipedia

HSC stu­dents to get Wiki­pe­dia course – As of next year, the Eng­lish cur­riculum for stu­dents sit­ting for the Higher School Cer­ti­fic­ate, which is taken in New South Wales, Aus­tralia, will incor­por­ate an elect­ive called “Global Vil­lage”, which will include the option of study­ing Wiki­pe­dia. Explain­ing the choice of Wiki­pe­dia, the Eng­lish inspector at the Board of Stud­ies, which over­sees the HSC, said that Wiki­pe­dia reflects “notions of the global vil­lage”, and that the course will allow stu­dents to exam­ine com­mu­nic­a­tions on a global scale. There has been a pos­it­ive response from edu​ca​tion​.au, a not-​​for-​​profit edu­ca­tional organ­isa­tion that brought Wiki­pe­dia co-​​founder Jimmy Wales to Aus­tralia on a speak­ing engage­ment last year. The CEO of edu​ca​tion​.au, Greg Black, said that young people need to learn how to under­stand and con­tex­tu­al­ise the inform­a­tion they gather on the Inter­net and to determ­ine “whether there’s an altern­at­ive view”.

Other men­tions

Other recent men­tions in the online press include:

• Clinton’s entry in Wiki­pe­dia has a watch­dog – One of the edit­ors watch­ing over Hil­lary Clinton’s Wiki­pe­dia bio­graphy has been brought unex­pec­ted celebrity and is pro­filed by this article.
• The Wiki busi­ness plan – Sue Gard­ner and Kul Wad­hwa talk about growth plans for Wiki­me­dia, the busi­ness side of the found­a­tion, and future opportunities.
• REPN TRI to the FULLEST!!! — “[A]s a model of dis­course, it’s a kill­joy”; this author believes that the style of the prose on Wiki­pe­dia is apt to lead stu­dents to believe that intel­lec­tual dis­course is “leaden” and “spiritless”.

As pub­lished in the Wiki­pe­dia Signpost