April 14, 2008 the Free-Content News Source That You Can Write! Page 1
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April 14, 2008 The free-content news source that you can write! Page 1 Top Stories Presse, ten people have been killed and 160 wounded in an explosion Wikinews interviews team at a mosque in southern Iran. behind the 2,000th featured Wikipedia article The bomb exploded in the city of Wikinews held an exclusive Shiraz, which, in addition to being interview with the University of the capital of the Fars Province, is British Columbia's professor Jon the fifth most populous city in Nine dead, scores injured Beasley-Murray and two of his Iran. after bombing in Iran students on their work to create AFP reports that that over one Wikipedia's 2,000th featured Saideh Ghorbani, who witnessed hundred people were injured and article. nine killed after a mosque in Iran the bombing, said that at "around 9:15 pm, after the sermon, the was bombed. Wikipedia Current Events sound of an explosion resounded Wikinews reports from 2008 Trevor Immelman of South Africa in the section reserved for men Taiwan Open Source wins the 2008 Masters and a cloud of dust billowed up to Development Conference Tournament. the sky." People involved in open source •Robert Zoellick, the president of The perpetrators of the bombing products from across Taiwan the World Bank, calls for are not yet known. gathered together at the 2008 immediate action to tackle rising Taiwan Open food prices which have caused Wikinews interviews team Source rioting in several countries. Development behind the 2,000th featured •Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo Conference to Wikipedia article Hajredin Kuçi announces that the present to others This week saw the English- newly independent country plans Credit: Shoichi a variety of language version of Wikipedia, the to open 20 embassies abroad. research which is relevant to the collaboratively written online open source community. •The Prime Minister of Australia encyclopedia, reach 2,000 featured Kevin Rudd announces that articles with the inclusion of the current Governor of Queensland article El Señor Presidente. Quentin Bryce will become Featured articles (FAs) meet Teräsbetoni frontman J. Ahola Australia's next Governor- Wikipedia's highest standards for on representing Finland at General. Ms Bryce will be the first quality, accuracy, neutrality, Eurovision 2008 & more woman appointed to the role. completeness, and style, and thus Jarkko Ahola talks are considered the best articles on to Wikinews on •Thousands of pro-China Wikipedia. topics including on demonstrators gathered in front his band's of the Canadian Parliament The Wikipedia team that carries representation of Building in Ottawa to show their out the assessment and quality Finland at this support for the Chinese control before conferring the year's upcoming government and 2008 Beijing status of featured articles Eurovision Song Olympics. promoted five articles to FA status Contest and his at the same time: Walter de Credit: Cecil (CC-inolvement with Nine dead, scores injured after Coventre, Maximian, El Señor BY-SA) supergroup bombing in Iran Presidente, Lord of the Universe, Northern Kings. According to Agence France- and Red-billed Chough. With five If you would like to write, publish or edit articles, visit en .wikinews.org Monday, April 14, 2008 Wikinews Page 2 promoted at the same time, agreeing to talk to us. Can you perhaps even break doWN: the conferring the status of 2,000th on give some background on what rather limited relationship between one is an arbitrary decision and in prompted you to start this project? teacher (supposed to be the expert some respects any of these articles and source of all authority) and could actually make a claim to the Jon Beasley-Murray, Professor, the student (too often treated as honour. University of British Columbia the passive recipient of Image: Jon Beasley-Murray. knowledge). The article El Señor Presidente was Prof. Jon Beasley-Murray: I should Overall, a Wikipedia assignment created and developed by a say first that I've written some offered lots of possibilities, University of British Columbia reflections at the project on including: class, "Murder, Madness, and Wikipedia itself, as an essay I teaching students about Wikipedia, Mayhem: Latin American entitled "Madness". an important site that they use Literature in Translation". While an In short, however, I'd done some (and too often misuse) often important milestone, the 2,000th editing on Wikipedia a year ago. improving Wikipedia itself, by featured article is also symbolic of I'd got into that rather by generating new content on topics Wikipedia's growing role in the accident--after finding to some where its coverage is lacking 21st century learning arena. surprise that some of my academic encouraging students to produce work had been written up at the something that had relevance The professor of the class, Jon site. I then spent some time trying outside the classroom, in the Beasley-Murray, began using to organize and expand articles public sphere Wikipedia as a collaborative space and categories relating to Latin giving them tangible goals that where his students could both do America, particularly Latin were measured by something coursework and provide a type of American culture, which is my area other than my oWN: professorial virtual public service. Thus, he of expertise. I discovered that judgement created a Wikipedia project, Wikipedia's coverage of this area changing their views about writing, Murder Madness and Mayhem, that was uneven at best. It was while I by stressing the importance of focussed on creating articles was involved in this that it came to ongoing revision relating to the Latin American me that students could usefully teaching them about research and literature covered in his class. Not participate on the site. They use about how to use and evaluate surprisingly, El Señor Presidente is Wikipedia anyway; why not find sources considered one of the most ways in which they could also important books in Latin American participate? And I'd come to “'we did get one "speedy deletion" literature, written by Nobel Prize- realize that it's only by tag. It was placed, within less than winning Guatemalan writer, Miguel participating and contributing that a minute, on an article that I Ángel Asturias. you can really understand the created in front of all the students, Encyclopedia, both its strengths during class time. For one horrible The Wikinews team contacted Prof. and its weaknesses but above all moment, in front of the whole Beasley-Murray, who agreed to be the way it comes to be how it is. class, I had a feeling that things interviewed for this story. His And I've always been interested in might go terribly wrong.” responses can be found below. using technology in teaching: —Professor Jon Beasley-Murray Included are sections soliciting mailing lists, websites, blogs, and responses from three students so on. But I've never much liked WN: Did you consult with fellow who took the class and helped "educational technology": academics or students prior to create and bring El Señor programs such as WebCT that launching this project? Presidente to Feature Article students only ever use as part of a JBM: No, not really. Perhaps I status. Thus far the project has course they are taking. By creating should have! But off and on last created seven good articles in something of an educational summer I did discuss the idea with addition to the 2,000th featured ghetto, educational technology a friend who works in educational article. seems to me to miss out on the technology at UBC, who had most interesting and exciting helped me with the Murder Madness and Mayhem possibilities of the Internet: implementation of blogs in my Wikinews: Professor Beasley- precisely the fact that it opens up courses. And this friend, Brian Murray, thank you for giving us to the world outside the Lamb, was as always very some of your valuable time and classroom, and can reconfigure or encouraging and supportive of this If you would like to write, publish or edit articles, visit www.wikinews.org Monday, April 14, 2008 Wikinews Page 3 kind of experimentation. He looked we also avoided those problems, I WN: As a member of the into the possibility of helping me think, because I'd spent a fair Wikimedia Foundation's apply for a grant for the project, amount of time on Wikipedia communications committee I but it seems there aren't any for already and was aware of some (Brian McNeil) frequently see both this kind of thing. I decided to go (but far from all) the habits of the sides of the conflict over how ahead anyway, essentially on my site. And more importantly relevant or reliable Wikipedia is. own. because we had quite definite This ranges from queries coming in And in January, as the project was aims: students weren't editing from students working on their getting underway, I signed up with Wikipedia for the sake of it. school paper who want a response Wikipedia:School and university Even so, we did get one "speedy to their librarian and teachers projects. There were plenty of deletion" tag. It was placed, within effectively banning use of other previous and ongoing less than a minute, on an article Wikipedia, to the other extreme educational projects listed there, that I created in front of all the such as a recent case where a so I presumed I wasn't so alone students, during class time. For teaching surgeon in the UK asking and that what I was doing wasn't one horrible moment, in front of for permission to quote extensively so innovative. It was only much the whole class, I had a feeling from Wikipedia for a paper on the later that I realized just how that things might go terribly site's relevance and potential use different and how ambitious this wrong.