Why was this subject area chosen?

Primarily because covering these areas on Wikipedia is challenging, and would benefit from a range of expertise.  We already have thousands of active volunteers working on this subject area, and the goal is to both increase the content and quality of coverage of public policy throughout Wikipedia.  Academics and students of public policy are also very focused on the complexity of these issues and similarly invested in the interdisciplinary aspects of talking about public policy, that makes them a good fit.

Health Top Tips Nutrition Love Lifestyle Happiness Weight Loss 

What also matters a great deal to the Foundation, and to our funders at the Stanton Foundation, is the important role public policy has on citizens, particularly the importance of having high-quality, current, and neutral/factual information about public policy.  Wikipedia is one of the most-read works in history on a variety of topics, and with millions of users getting information about public policy from Wikipedia, it's a logical and important area for us to explore.

In the long term we hope to take our learnings from this project and share them with other subject areas - and share them internationally so our affiliates and chapters can undertake similar initiative with other subject areas with other academic institutions.

In addition to the classroom projects described in the press release, what other types of experiments do you foresee?

Other experiments on campus might include encouraging students to add more free, rich media to our projects: photographs, video and sound, schematics, maps and diagrams.  All of those, alongside the core text, are critical to improve Wikipedia as an educational resource.

Are professors and/or others going to be paid salaries or stipends to participate in these improvement projects?

Not at all - all of the participation is still 100% volunteer in nature.

Given the level of contentiousness over public-policy issues, especially on the Internet, what makes you think this might work?

We know from speaking with academics and experts that Wikipedia is a recognized source of information in these areas, both for students and for the general public.  Faculty and experts we've reached out to appreciate that Wikipedia is an open project, and also that it has a complex culture.  They are encouraged by the transparency and openness, and they want to guide their students to become participants in the project.

At Wikipedia there is always a recognition that consensus and agreement about complex issues is really hard to achieve.  That's normal and part of the culture with Wikipedia.  We recognize this is also an experiment, so we haven't yet proven that it will work, but considering the enthusiasm from academia and the general recognition by students and academics about the importance of Wikipedia, we think a successful collaboration is in the works.)

上一页  [1] [2]