Dustin Buccino: Blocking Wikipedia
Sunday, March 25, 2007
I am a student at Steamboat Springs High School. Recently, our Library Media Center directors and Technology department requested a block on Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that is free and includes a ton of information regarding just about everything. Wikipedia is now blocked. A majority of the student population is outraged. I am writing to the Steamboat Pilot & Today in an effort to get it unblocked, as even letters from teachers to the tech department have gone unheeded.
Wikipedia was created on Jan. 15, 2001 as "The Free Encyclopedia that anyone can edit." Wikipedia is now available in more than 250 languages, in virtually every country in the world, and has more than 4.5 million articles ranging from the chemical geometry of Tetrahydrocannabinol to why the Roman Empire declined. Wikipedia is backed up by hundreds of editors who constantly check pages for accuracy and hijacking. Editors are responsible for also writing quality articles with accurate information.
The Tech department's argument for blocking Wikipedia is that students are directly copying off Wikipedia's encyclopedia and citing a different source on their works cited page, required with nearly every research project at SSHS. But couldn't you simply do that with any source? I could cite Microsoft's Encarta encyclopedia and copy off About.com. Isn't it the job of checking source accuracy the students' and teachers' responsibilities?
An even remotely acceptable excuse to block Wikipedia would be that anyone can edit Wikipedia and that some of its information isn't always accurate. However, a recent issue of Nature Magazine discussed the results of a study about the accuracy of Wikipedia in comparison to Encyclopedia Britannica. In a surprising conclusion, Nature found out that Wikipedia has about two times the amount of errors in its' articles, but is also has about two and a half times more content. For example, there is an article in Wikipedia about Dmitry Mendeleev, one of the co-creators of the periodic table. This article has 19 errors in it whereas Britannica's entry has eight, but Wikipedia's article is more than twice as long and has more than twice the content of Britannica's.
Wikipedia is available in more than 250 languages with the full encyclopedia available in about 100. This is extremely useful when learning a foreign language, as all the articles in each language are very similar and are laid out in the same format. For example, the French IV classes at SSHS recently did a project about various African countries. When learning complex cultural words, having Wikipedia available in both French and English helps the French IV students learn.
Why Wikipedia? There are plenty of other famous sites out there that are even more inaccurate than Wikipedia and that people can edit as well. Take About.com, for example. Its articles are written by its users. However, this site is not blocked. It just doesn't make sense. The action of the tech committee seems arbitrary.
It is OK to block inappropriate sites like those with pornography, vulgar language and violence. But to block Wikipedia? This is completely unacceptable. What is going to be blocked next? HighBeam's free Encyclopedia? Google even? I don't know, but the arbitrary censoring must end.
Dustin Buccino
Steamboat Springs
Comments
2007 6 years, 2 months ago
I have a vacation home in Steamboat so my children attend high school out of state. Dustin seems to have a good point. If cheaters want to cheat they will find a way, especially as this material is so readily available from home computers. Perhaps teachers should require students to 'capture' or save the pages of the internet research, in their entirety, so that these sources could be compared with the students' final work if there is a question. Wikipedia is not a great source, but sometimes it will provide students a thumbnail sketch of a situation so they will know where to look next to do real research.
another_local 6 years, 2 months ago
Nicely written Dustin. Goods points and well made.
Magpie 6 years, 2 months ago
This is very well written. I can understand that need to block sites that may carry inappropriate content (such as pornography) on the computers in the High School Library and I assume (but I could very well be wrong) that the High School has appropriate content blockers and filters in place so that the inappropriate content is blocked. Outside of inappropriate content, to block a site becuase it can be plagiarized from seems to be insanity. Following that line of thinking, the entire library needs to be closed down since any of the material in it could be copied directly.
I wonder what happens on the High School computers if you Google "High School Term Paper?" If I do that from my home machine, I get a lot of hits for companies that will write my paper for me for $9.95 a page and guarantee that it won't be plagiarized. Seems like it is far more important to block this information from the students then to actually block research.
Plus, if a student does plagiarize from Wikipeida and the teacher suspects it, it will be easier for the teacher to track it down online than to find the plagiarized information in a book somewhere in the library. So, with that argument, get rid of the written material and allow research only online.
Until I read this letter in the paper on Sunday, I had no idea that the High School had blocked Wikipedia access. Seems like the tech people in our district have a lot more important things they could be doing.
myword 6 years, 2 months ago
An important part of any learning process is accuracy. Too often "facts " are in fact not truthful. One frequently can experience the rewritting of history or factual information being modified for ones own purpose. One can investigate , but what source, one that attempts accuracy would be an appropriate source! Please note FORBES 9 April 2007,"Wikipedia explicitly refuses to guarntee the validity of its postings...."
Matthew Stoddard 6 years, 2 months ago
Dustin- Thanks for a well thought out post. I would agree that since Wikipedia can be edited by any and everyone, it's facts are always questionable. There's a poster right here on your thread that uses it for propoganda purposes all the time. Funny thing is, this same person admonished me for using it to dispute what he had posted once. Ironic, eh?
I would suggest that if they block Wikipedia, maybe suggest to the schools to pay the fee for allowing all school computers access to Encyclopedia Brittanica Online. Best source I can think of that the schools might allow. Even with the info you posted comparing Wiki to others, by allowing any Average_Joe-ker to edit it, even with a staff to research those additions, I would feel more comfortable knowing that the info was put there by someone specifically in charge of doing so.
Magpie 6 years, 2 months ago
But kids have all sorts of access to unreliable information outside of Wikipedia. Probably the best sources for mis-information are friends and family followed by the newspaper.
Isn't that what the research papers are for - to learn how to gather information, check its validity, decide your position and then state it well?
This is what I learned to do in High School and College and it has served me well in both my business and professional life.
I would rather these High School kids be exposed to bogus information and lean how to detect it now.
Sam Chovan 6 years, 2 months ago
SBVOR- This is a debate about wether or not to allow wikipedia on the highschool computers (from which I am currently writing) not a political debate. Please find another outlet for your right wing propaganda.
Magpie 6 years, 2 months ago
Scott -
Has the paper followed up on this to see if Wikipedia is still blocked at the High School and if there are any plans to unblock it or to block more sites and what the High School has to say about why it is blocked?
I would certainly like to hear more and accurate information about it.
Matthew Stoddard 6 years, 2 months ago
Hey Scott- Can we delete the "right vs. left" propoganda from this thread? Maybe move it somewhere more appropriate since it has nothing to do with Dustin's original post? I've hit the Suggest Removal, but would be happy to have the offending posts moved to it's own thread.
carterdunham 6 years, 2 months ago
Dustin:
I am sorry to hear that the high school staff blocked Wikipedia. As a college student I have discovered the resourcefulness of Wikipedia. Rather than block this site I feel that the high school should consider teaching students how to use this site.
Many professors at the University of Northern Colorado, which I am currently attending use this site in lectures and as references. The key to Wikipedia is that it must be considered a starting point, just as any encyclopedia should be. Additionally, look for cited information within the site as these help show how accurate the information is and can also be great leads to other information.
If school is concerned about plagiarism than perhaps they should look into online paper submissions which check the papers for plagiarism. Although these do not catch everything, they do catch the people who cut and paste their whole paper. I still have yet to submit a paper here at the university, which does not go through one of these online sites.
I hope that the library will reconsider the use of Wikipedia as I feel it can be a valuable resource and should be part of students education. Learning how to use secondary sources, like Wikipedia, are important to understanding how to thoroughly research and prepare to write a paper.
Good luck Dustin and keep us updated on the progress.
Carter Dunham University of Northern CO Student SSHS Graduate 2003
dustinbuccino 6 years, 2 months ago
My Update:
Unfortunately, the librarians have not reevaluated their decision even after numerous teacher complaints, including most of the foreign language teachers and one of the most experienced teachers on SSHS staff, who has been with the school for over 30 years.
I was actually confronted in 7th hour by one of the librarians. She denied everything I wrote, even though my letter was written right off of a response that she wrote to a teacher about Wikipedia. The librarian is now in denial and refuses to acknowledge any evidence to support the unblocking of Wikipedia.
The sad thing is, I can Google anything relating to cheating on tests or even in AP classes, and the first thing that comes up in not filtered out, and is easily accessible for students to cheat. I hope they focus on fixing this instead of arbitrary blocking Wikipedia and other websites.
Dustin
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