Scholars to stop pretending they don't use Wikipedia; will work out best practices instead

Cory Doctorow 11:49 pm Mon Mar 21, 2011

Some students and profs London's Imperial College have decided to stop using scary anaecdotes to frighten students away from Wikipedia; instead, the scholars will acknowledge that kids use Wikipedia, that there's lots of good there, and will work out evidence-based best practices for learning with Wikipedia.

"Students know there is an inherent unreliablity, as it's open edited. We're not trying to hide that.

"But it's a place where you can orientate yourself when you start a topic.

"The quality has improved and the readability is often second to none," he says.

But Mr Patel says there is a real gap in knowledge about how this free resource is being used.

Rather than swapping anecdotes about the use of Wikipedia, he says his group wants to move to a more evidence-based discussion about the place of Wikipedia in universities.

Academics to 'embrace Wikipedia'

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