Wikipedia Interactions

==Insights==
===Wikipedia with schoolchildren and with adult learners===
In some countries Wikipedia is the only encyclopedia written in
the first language. It may be flawed or uneven -- especially in the
first years of its development -- but the prospect of having an
encyclopedia which a schoolchild has at school and home is
revolutionary and exciting.
As in developed countries, teachers can explain to students that
not all sources are equally reliable, complete or objective. We want
children and adults to understand how to evaluate all sources of
oral, written and visual information, don't we? Want them to
internalize the evaluative criteria so that whether they are reading
an article in the Wikipedia, or seeing an American, Indian,
Australian, or locally-made movie or TV show, they are looking for
evidence of propaganda, bias, point of view, and for whether there is
a hidden agenda. There are many books and videos in my local public
library which have lower standards than many articles in the
Wikipedia. It's my job as a library user, and it's our jobs as
teachers to help children -- and adult learners -- to distinguish the
wheat from the chaff.
===Wikipedia features to help readers determine quality of articles===
The Discussion tab shows you what the discussion/debate/
controversy has been in developing the article to date. You can see
how many authors there are, how many people have been paying
attention to the page. What a great way to show students that writing
is often controversial, challenged, and sometimes collaborative. they
can also see what the issues are : accuracy, representation of points
of view, evidence, etc.
the History tab shows every version of the article. There may be
a few versions, or hundreds. A teacher selecting versions can show
students how accurate, complete, well-written articles don't usually
just appear as an inspiration but are often hard work done in many
drafts over time.
===Changes in the Wikipedia===
"Stable" articles, those which are
reviewed, are essentially finished (complete, accurate, well
written...) and are then "locked" and labled as "stable." 
Teachers who are concerned about research citation can have more confidence in
these, presumably and when other Wikipedia articles are cited can
require evidence that they are sound.
Wikipedia may be one of the best tools we have to teach critical
reading and research.
===Static versions===
The problem with having copies on a computer hard drive of the Wikipedia
or any other electronic book is that this is then a static copy of that
tool. The whole idea of the Wikipedia and of a Wiki in general is that
anyone in the audience of that Wiki can modify, rewrite or improve the
content already there. There may be hundreds of changes to the
Wikipedia
daily. A static copy of this tool rather than accessing the Wikipedia
on
the web would become an outdated copy in very short order, unless a
mechanism is going to exist to connect to the Wikipedia website to have
the content revised online.
===International Wikis===
One outcome of the just concluded "Wikimania" conference in Cambridge, Mass. (US) http://wikimania2006.wikimedia.org/ was discussion among several people (there and online) about how to facilitate development of Wikipedias in African languages.
This discussion resulted in the creation of a new list for discussion and coordination among all interested in whatever indigenous language(s) of the continent, and in making Wikipedia (and educational applications of ICT generally) more relevant and useful to Africa and all Africans. Dubbed "AfrophoneWikis" the list has its homepage at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/afrophonewikis/ . There are several links to relevant Wikimania and Wikipedia pages on the site.