I'm sure that many on the list already receive essays from students
using Wikipedia as the source of the material.
Wikipedia is also an untapped resource for geographical research - try
the following:
1. Take your favourite geographical flash point, and you are going to
find it in the controversial page of Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_controversial_issues
2. Next, get to the specific page, and either explore the discussion or
the history. A fantastic opportunity for those with
postmodern/deconstructivist interests to explore how text matters to
people, and how arguments are being built.
It is also quite interesting to note how many of the controversial
subjects are geographical or the combination of geography and history.
Certain areas of the globe are over represented in the list...
If I was teaching a course on text analysis and interpretation of
geographical texts, I'd use this part of wikipedia as a teaching resource.
Muki
Simon P J Batterbury wrote:
>wikipedia.org is the populist, user-created encyclopaedia. It's beginning
>to be the subject of scholarly debate (like EBay and other web stuff),
>since its text editing is a continuous process and the veracity of entries
>is therefore in the eye of the editor, to some extent. During the US prez
>elections for example, the Bush and Kerry pages were counter-edited by
>opposing camps every few minutes.
>
>Geographical entries are pretty lousy.
>I have begun the process by entering David Harvey. You can alter it as
>much as you like , and add others, using the edit function. Takes 10 mins
>to learn how.
>
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Harvey_%28geographer%29
>
>Places also feature prominently and the world coverage is pretty good -
>here are a couple
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eltham%2C_London
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westgarth
>
>
>
--
_____________________________________________________________________
Dr Muki Haklay: Lecturer in GIS T: +44 20 7679 2745
Department of Geomatic Engineering F: +44 20 7380 0453
University College London (UCL) W: http://www.casa.ucl.ac.uk/muki/
Gower st. London WC1E 6BT E: [log in to unmask]
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