Lesson 6: Encyclopedias and Wikipedia

I found the readings for this lesson created a new perspective for me about Wikipedia that rather surprised me. It is really quite an eye-opener and has provided much food for thought. Throughout my coursework, authority and reliability have been central to every resource we look at. But perhaps there is a place for a resource such as Wikipedia which does not meet the criteria of authority and reliablity after all? Berinstein states that, “people need to understand that Wikipedia is very much a work in progress.” (Berinstein, 2006). In other discussions I have had around this topic of unreliability, the statement that usually follows is “and that is why students should not be using it.” I actually appreciated Harris’ viewpoint on the subject, “It would be much more productive to teach colleagues, students, and parents how to best use Wikipedia. Instead of appearing to be "behind the times" when it comes to new information sources, librarians can foster educated, high-end users who verify Wikipedia entries using the history and discussion tabs.” (Harris, 2007). That’s very interesting and very controversial. The suggestion is given in the readings that Wikipedia can be used as a general source of information, or a starting point, to help introduce students to terms and topics that they might like to investigate further with more reliable sources. It is interesting to know that even Wikipedia agrees with prohibiting students from citing Wikipedia as sources because it does not come from an authoritative source. (Harris, 2007). Coincidentally, this is the same for print Encylopedias too. There is a good lesson in this, I believe, in developing information literacy skills. In the research models we have been looking at in previous lessons, one of the starting points is to choose a focus and define a question. Perhaps Wikipedia can be used at the early stages of the research project as long as a variety of reliable sources are also sought out. This is definitely a topic that I will be doing some more thinking about.

Berinstein, P. (2006). Wikipedia and Britannica: The Kid's All Right (And So's the Old Man) Searcher 14(3), 16-26. 

Harris, C. (2007). Can we make peace with wikipedia? School Library Journal, 53(6), 26-26. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/211833555?accountid=14656