Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Letter to Jimmy Wales, Wikimedia's founder and Board of Trustees chair

Dear Mr. Wales,

I've been reading a lot of attacks recently on the credibility and integrity of Wikipedia and its vetting process. As a recent grad student in English Lit and a past instructor of undergraduate composition classes, I have one idea that I think could both address this problem and help expand the Wikipedia's base of (potentially) well-informed and vigilant editors: start a program to incorporate editing Wikipedia into college (and maybe even high school) composition/writing curricula.

It's not a perfect marriage, I realize, and would require some real effort to develop a viable curriculum or lesson plan and get it adopted by college writing programs. Hopefully I'm not the first person to have this idea and there are already some independent programs or initiatives underway. But I think a concerted, Wikipedia-backed campaign would help give a pragmatic focus to an academic endeavor that many students (and not a few instructors) find excessively academic and could further invigorate the Wikipedia community.

Congratulations on a creating a remarkable public resource. I wish it continuing success.

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