Originally posted in our previous blog by:

Jeff Cooper
wikipedia account
Sat Jun 3, 2006 5:18PM

Wikipedia is a collaborative online encyclopedia with over 1,000,000 articles in English. People register, then may create their own article and/or edit others. In other words, it's an encyclopedia created by Netizens! I think it's a great idea, although some people have questioned the veracity (truthfulness) of some of the articles. Indeed, there is now a procedure if you doubt that any of the articles are telling the 100% truth to flag it as being challenged.

As far as you having an account at Wikipedia, I personally think it is certainly a better place (from an educator's point of view) to hang out online than MySpace or other social communities. At Wikipedia, you'll be reading articles on virtually *every* subject. Now, this is a downside, because there are certainly articles there that are inappropriate for minors (and I'm guessing you're under 18). At the moment, I don't think they have any "18 and over" warning when linking into a page... but that is something that you and your dad will have to discuss.

The other thing is why you want an account. Do you have something you want to edit, or are you an expert in something that you'd like to start your own topic? Again, I think this is a great way to spend time online... imagine being a contributor to the biggest encyclopedia in the world! If you have a page to build (with references, links, etc.) I think that your dad should give you the go ahead to create an account there and work on it. If you just want to browse, you don't need an account, but as I said above I think you should be careful.

I hope this answers some of your questions.

Regards,

Jeff Cooper
Education Technology Support Consultant