How to talk to children about Wikipedia: Difference between revisions
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==Factual errors== | |||
A factual error is where something that everyone can agree on is wrong within Wikipedia. An example would be if someone on Wikipedi said that Christopher Columbus made his voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in 1992. Everyone knows and accepts that it is 1492. | |||
These errors are particularly damaging because if people can't get basic facts straight, then they have no hope of truly understanding a subject and coming to reasonable conclusions. | |||
==Child predators and criminals== | |||
Wikipedia is a place where anonymous people of all ages and backgrounds come together. That's good, in a way, but it's also scary. The person you are talking to on Wikipedia could be talking to you from prison, and be there for hurting someone, and be able to get out someday. You should never give out your real name, where you live, or your phone number to anyone on the internet. | |||
==Violence, pornography, disturbing content== | |||
If Wikipedia were a movie, it would be rated "X" or "NC-17". It has pictures of hardcore pornography, worse than anything you would find in even a Playboy magazine. It has pictures of dead bodies and people being tortured and hurt badly. If you really need to use Wikipedia, ask your parents to look at the page first to make sure it is ok for you. | |||
===How can it be this way? Isn't anyone in charge?=== | |||
Short answer: No. Wikipedia is written by volunteers, and because anyone can be a volunteer, anyone can write whatever they want. Other Wikipedians have decided to have a hands-off policy regarding what people can and cannot write about. This is because they fear censorship, or a situation in which a small group tells the rest of us what we can and cannot say. Although this is a noble idea, it has certain problems, namely that an uncensored encyclopedia is going to be full of scary and obscene things, and therefore unusable for children. | |||
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Latest revision as of 15:54, 12 November 2011
How to talk to children about Wikipedia
- Cool for hobbies
- Not so good for education
Factual errors
A factual error is where something that everyone can agree on is wrong within Wikipedia. An example would be if someone on Wikipedi said that Christopher Columbus made his voyage across the Atlantic Ocean in 1992. Everyone knows and accepts that it is 1492.
These errors are particularly damaging because if people can't get basic facts straight, then they have no hope of truly understanding a subject and coming to reasonable conclusions.
Child predators and criminals
Wikipedia is a place where anonymous people of all ages and backgrounds come together. That's good, in a way, but it's also scary. The person you are talking to on Wikipedia could be talking to you from prison, and be there for hurting someone, and be able to get out someday. You should never give out your real name, where you live, or your phone number to anyone on the internet.
Violence, pornography, disturbing content
If Wikipedia were a movie, it would be rated "X" or "NC-17". It has pictures of hardcore pornography, worse than anything you would find in even a Playboy magazine. It has pictures of dead bodies and people being tortured and hurt badly. If you really need to use Wikipedia, ask your parents to look at the page first to make sure it is ok for you.
How can it be this way? Isn't anyone in charge?
Short answer: No. Wikipedia is written by volunteers, and because anyone can be a volunteer, anyone can write whatever they want. Other Wikipedians have decided to have a hands-off policy regarding what people can and cannot write about. This is because they fear censorship, or a situation in which a small group tells the rest of us what we can and cannot say. Although this is a noble idea, it has certain problems, namely that an uncensored encyclopedia is going to be full of scary and obscene things, and therefore unusable for children.
