Friday, April 25, 2008

Wikipedia changes the world - again!

The Crown College website modified the information displayed about Dr. Hustad. His name is now diplayed as L. Arnold Hustad, as opposed to Arnold L. Hustad.

Like I said, Wikipedia is changing the world!

Stubs: Prodigies and Philosophers

As a follow up to the investigation of the stub Article on L. Arnold Hustad, I enjoyed the following e-mail exchnage with him:

>>> Victoria Crowley 04/18/08 4:41 PM >>>
Hello, Dr. Hustad.

I'm doing a project on Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. You are currently known as a philosopher in what is know as a stub article. Your name is Dr. L. Arnold Hustad. On the Crown faculty page, it's Dr. Arnold L. Hustad. I'm wondering what the most accurate position of the "L" is. And I was also wondering if you would mind me posting your picture on Wikipedia as well as any other biographical information I might attempt to attain?

Sincerely,Victoria

>>> Arnie Hustad 04/21/08 10:14 PM >>>
Hi Victoria!

I guess it would be alright to post a picture on Wikipedia. Actually, I'm not sure who placed the entry there in the first place. Must have been a former student. I'm a rather low profile person, but I don't imagine anyone gets into the short article very often, so I don't have much to worry about.

It is L. Arnold, so Wikipedia is correct. We will have to get the Crown page changed.

I wish you well on your project!

Dr. Hustad
~
I am currently watching his page. The process of uploading a picture is too complex for me - I need to sit down and go through a tutorial to learn.

Here's a quote I thought really resonated with my project, especially with what I just recounted:

“The results indicate that there is a linkage between Wikipedia as a 'working draft of history' and current news events.” (Lih, 2004, p. 19) - (From the article I read that was cited a few blogs ago.)

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Continuing the randomness...

So, I clicked on the random article link that's in my last blog and arrived at this Wikipedia article:

Hiroshi Yamamoto (archer)

It's about this dude from Japan who competed in the 2004 Olympics. It's only a stub, so it's a short one. This article has these words above it:

"This article does not cite any references or sources. (April 2008)Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed."

How random is that?

Random Article

Some random Wikipedia articles:

Karl V. Teeter

Peter Calabresi

Eski Imaret Mosque

Echandelys

Weott, California

Wikipedia generated these articles using its "random article" feature. Every time I clicked on the "Random article" link, a random article showed up. It's a fun way to learn about something random!

The pursuit of knowledge continues, and all it takes is a random article!

Speedy deletion alert!

This message appeared on my talk page in regards to my spoof article that no longer exists:

"Speedy deletion of John wheaton

Thank you for experimenting with Wikipedia. Your test worked, and the page that you created has been or soon will be deleted. Please use the sandbox for any other tests you want to do. Take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia
If you think that this notice was placed here in error, you may contest the deletion by adding {{hangon}} to the top of the page that has been nominated for deletion (just below the existing speedy deletion or "db" tag), coupled with adding a note on the talk page explaining your position, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, if the article meets the criterion it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the article that would would render it more in conformance with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Lastly, please note that if the article does get deleted, you can contact one of these admins to request that a copy be emailed to you. greenrd (talk) 16:10, 22 April 2008 (UTC) greenrd (talk) 16:10, 22 April 2008 (UTC)"

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Gone!

My spoof article as been obliterated. More details coming...

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Wikipedia and my college

Part of my Wikipedia explorations is the investigation of how Crown College, the institution which I attend, is represented it on this free, online encyclopedia. There are currently two different articles pertaining to my school: "Crown College (Minnesota)" & "L Arnold Hustad ."

There are currently no pictures on uploaded to the Crown College Wikipedia sight, which I find very sad, considering other colleges have illustrations with their articles. I would like to take the project of expanding and editing this page on; however, just trying to upload a picture was a process with which I quickly became overwhelmed.

I mentioned in earlier blog that Wikipedia is virtually impossible to vandalize. Here's why (I know this from experience and it was only confirmed by that article I've been reading).

One of the professors at my college was "running for president." There were a number of students that were "campaigning for him." It was a fun little rouse (Is that even the right word?). The idea came into my head that I should put this professor and his "presidential campaign on Wikipedia. At the time, I wasn't aware of everything I'm aware of now. I go to http://www.wikipedia.org/, get a user name and password to become an editor (which isn't necessary, by the way), and type up this super brief and spoof article. It was instantly deleted. It was literally a matter of seconds. I think there was a five-second interval when Wikipedia would "go" to article. Then it was gone, and I was told something to the extent of "The administrator did not find demontrated historical significance with the material.

For the purpose of further research, I tried to re-create this experience and attain the exact quote from the adminstrator; so I created another spoof article. (It may or not be there by the time you click this link.)

It's still there: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_wheaton. The article is simply this sentence copied and pasted multiple times: "This article is an intentional spoof article for the purpose of research." The article is titled "Spoof."

What does this have to do with uploading pictures? Wikipedia is pretty picky about the copyright of the images that are uploaded to its site. They explain everything in extensive articles.

My last spoof article was deleted instantly.

My spoof article is still there. Maybe I'll UNspoof this article for the purpose of more research...