On 1/18/07, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton(a)gmail.com> wrote:
I think the first scenario would still be a major
breakthrough;
requiring graduate students to write their literature papers for
Wikipedia is a whole different beast from (a few idealistic) graduate
students writing on top of their other duties.
Wikipedia is written for the layman, a graduate student's papers are
written for the expert. Writing for Wikipedia requires different
skills than the ones graduate students are being tested on with their
papers, and the skills currently being tested are required, so writing
for Wikipedia would have to be in addition to, it can't be instead of,
academic papers.
Excellent point. I mainly copy edit for clarity and readability. An
encyclopedia
just isn't any good if the average reader (or a learning child,
perhaps) can't or won't read it.
--
Sincerely,
Nina
"Look at the sky. We are not alone. The whole universe is friendly to us and
conspires only to give the best to those who dream and work." - Abdul Kalam