MIL Skills Instruction: Is Wikipedia Trash or Treasure?

 Are you still wary of Wikipedia as a credible reference or source? Well, it is online and very much accessible so, we might as well understand it a little bit more. 

Here is how I read, teach and instruct my student in using Wikipedia as a reference and source for a research topic.

1. Introduce the idea of knowlege sharing in in-person learning and online learning. Experts, scholars and academicians, as well as the regular person have knowledge to share and communicate. Forums, Online Groups, Tweeter Moots and Spaces are examples. Long before these online communities came about, there was Wikipedia, a space in the digital world where anyone can share his/her knowledge about a topic. It is open and open source. It is an example of a digital learning commons.

A hyperlink to an article in The New York Times

2. Wikipedia is a hyperdocument. The links function as leads or, in itself references to more sources of information. It offers opportunities to check the topic or content as valuable or limited depending on the reader or user's purpose. Do take note that the links can lead the reader or the researcher astray. It can be a distraction. So, before using Wikipedia or any online and electronic reosurce that has hyperlinks, the goal and objectives of a research task is one's anchor or beacon of light.

This article from The New York Times is preserved in a digital archive.

3. It is advisable to read laterally on Wikipedia. This means, the reading of websites and online sources from Wikipedia is important to assess the credibility and richness of its contents. Lateral Reading is another topic and skill worthy of learning. More on lateral reading in future posts. 

4. Take note of the footnotes and bibliography. It will lead you to the basic and original references used by the authors and contributors of the topic or subject. From here, you can build your own reference and source list.

Even the definitions of important words are "clickable".

There are many ways to read online articles, sources and documents. Wikipedia is only one of many. There are, however, threads common to these online texts - images and graphics, included, that has to be evaluated and understood before taking a deep dive into the content that it offers.