The new news site… Wikipedia.
Fascinating blog post from Megan Golding, Wikipedia gets the news right…
“Not until I clicked on the Wikipedia article’s citations did I wind up at a major news outlet. I think Wikipedia-as-news-source is an important trend (and was the shining star in citizen journalism, according to one blog) …I gave my students an opportunity today to see and comment on the Wikipedia-as-news-provider trend. After reviewing the article, the students talked about being impressed by the details. We also discussed the idea of smart mobs, which was new to most of them.”
Last time I checked the Wikipedia article, it had 138 sources. Although the talk page bounces around like a ping pong ball, actually many of the items “broke” there. This page has been edited over 500 times.
On another note for bloggers, many in the blogosphere are calling for one day of blog silence on April 30th.
I plan to honor it, however, I find it a disturbing trend. I personally think that what blogs to best is to speak out and I believe that bringing attention to the important issues,
like why every school and college should stop banning cell phones and instead make SMS systems and cell phones mandatory. (See Andy Carvin's article.)
An SMS system like the one Virginia Tech was planning to install last September, would have saved many lives.
Use cell phones for safety.
Use wikipedia for news and
Realize it is a new day in education and it is time to use technology to make our campuses better and stop living in the papertiger past where such needless tragedies of nonconnectedness happen. A text message in the car would have saved lives!
The day is coming when you will not be allowed to make them leave the cell phone at home. And I for one will factor in the presence of an SMS emergency notification system when my children go to college in 6 years.
By the way, I found out about this from Andy Carvin at PBS…. on twitter.
We are all grieving and praying for the families and university.
tag: Virginia Tech, Wikipedia, Andy Carvin, twitter, Virginia Tech massacre, SMS, text messaging, Megan Golding
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I couldn’t agree with you more. I don’t hear this debate going on in the media or college campuses. However, I have waited for the day when this might happen. This time of year (and the finals time around Christmas) are pressure cookers for students. Like the professors at VA Tech, you can pick out the students that are not doing well, who might snap at any minute. However, there is no means of communication if something would happen while I’m in the classroom: no public announcement system, no telecommunications, and in many classes no computer or internet access. My students with cell phones are more prepared than I am and my only link to the outside world. I am not sure that I have the answer except to agree that cell phones should not be perceived as “evil” and to call for better mental health services at all levels of education.
Thanks for the reference to my post, Vicki.
I’m curious, though: why participate in the day of silence on April 30 while you’re troubled by the idea?
I think that silence is exactly the wrong response to the deaths of 33 at Virginia Tech. We need to continue talking.
Just read this article, not sure if a text service was setup but here is one that you could look at http://www.izigg.com/textservice they have the sMS short code of 90210 that makes it easy to remember.
Good Luck