Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2014-12-31/In the media
Study tour controversy; class tackles the gender gap
Report of controversial "study tour" found to have plagiarized Wikipedia
A "study tour" by the
The trip has resulted in a 20 page report recently submitted to Chandigarh mayor Harphool Chandra Kalyan. The
University class attempts to address gaps in Wikipedia coverage
Metro Canada reports (December 23) on the use of Wikipedia in a class at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Women’s Studies 3311 — Race, Femininity and Representation. Professor Kim Williams told Metro:
The issue is that because Wikipedia is a cultural text and, therefore, participates in the creation of knowledge . . . what sort of knowledge is being created because only certain people are participating in the editing process? It passes as objective, it passes as universal knowledge, when, in fact, it comes from a very particular perspective — overwhelmingly white or overwhelmingly male.
Professor Williams assigned the class to edit Wikipedia pages of
There is a disconnect between outside observers who express surprise that articles like
In brief
- Wikipedia bookshelf: Times Higher Education reviews (January 1) the upcoming book by Nathaniel Tkacz, Wikipedia and the Politics of Openness.
- Urdu meetup: TwoCircles reports (December 30) on an Urdu Wikipedia meetup in Thiruvananthapuram.
- The MP from Wikipedia: On the December 26 edition of the BBC Radio 4 programme Today, Jimmy Wales suggested that votes in the UK's House of Commons should be conducted electronically. He said “The security risks would be minimal, you would have a good record of what people said and you would speed up the process so that Parliament could get more done."
- "The Lives They Lived": In a New York Times Magazine section commemorating notable deaths of 2014 (December 25), Virginia Heffernan profiles the late Wikipedia editor Adrianne Wadewitz (Wadewitz). In the profile, Heffernan takes a swipe at "Wikipedia's notoriously gangsterish back channels", a comment which has become the subject of debateamong Wikipedia editors.
- Getting the last word: LiveScience reports (December 24) that California Institute of Technology professor of geophysics Don L. Anderson's extensive preparations before his December 2 death of cancer included asking his relatives to update his Wikipedia article.
- Wikipedia Free Ghana: In a press release (December 24), MTN Ghana announced that it is offering free mobile access to Wikipedia in Ghana as part of the Wikipedia Zeroinitiative.
- Autovandalism: NSFW) depicting autofellatio.
- Genealogical blues: In an interview (December 20) with The Independent, actress Anna Chancellor expressed disatisfaction with part of her Wikipedia article detailing genealogical links to a number of peers and other notable figures, including Jane Austen. (Chancellor portrayed Caroline Bingley in an adaptation of Austen's Pride and Prejudice.) Chancellor said "Can't you imagine? You've worked hard all your life to be an actress, or whatever you've done, and that is what's presented to you. Don't you think that's embarrassing? I don't enjoy being quoted as saying that's who I am, because I don't feel that is who I am." The section was removed following the publication of the interview on the grounds that it was largely unsourced.
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