Canoga Park Computer Classes

This is the blog for the Canoga Park Branch Library (Los Angeles Public Library) Computer Classes, with links, lesson recaps and other helpful resources. Please feel free to leave comments and participate in the ongoing discussion. All classes are free and open to the public. Basic computer knowledge is helpful for all classes. We can only take 6 students per session, so space is limited. Sign up at the Reference desk or call (818) 887-0320 for more information.

Monday, August 27, 2007

The Wonderful World of Wikipedia




Wikipedia is another wonderful resource online, and it's growing all the time. It's the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. Over 7 million articles in over 200 languages, and still growing.

http://www.wikipedia.org/
Wikipedia’s Fundamental Mission statement: Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge.

What is Wikipedia?

  • An encyclopedia collaboratively written by many of its readers
  • It uses a special type of website called a wiki, which makes collaboration easy
  • The world’s largest encyclopedia project – in over 100 languages
  • One of the most popular sites on the Internet
  • A very useful information source
  • A fun tool for learning and discovery

The Philosophy of Wikipedia

  • Wikipedia is built on the assumption that most people are well-meaning
  • Collaboration will gradually improve the encyclopedia
  • Lots of people are constantly improving Wikipedia, making thousands of changes an hour, all of which are recorded on article histories and recent changes
  • Inappropriate changes are usually removed quickly, and repeat offenders can be blocked from editing.

Things you can do with Wikipedia

  • Search for a specific topic and learn more about it
  • Edit an entry and add your knowledge to Wikipedia
  • Browse, click links within articles or discover a random page
  • Check out the topic-specific portals
  • Find links to other websites on the same subject at the bottom of most articles

Future Goals For Wikipedia

  • Quality vs. Quantity – improving quality rather than emphasizing numbers
  • Catch up to Encyclopedia Britannica – Wikipedia compares favorably in sciences but is behind in arts and literature
  • Create free online learning tools – Wikiversity?

Other free services available through Wikipedia

  • Wikibooks – free textbooks and manuals
  • Wiktionary – online dictionary and thesaurus
  • Wikiquote – quotations
  • Commons – shared media repository – copyright-free pictures, videos and more

Go check it out! http://www.wikipedia.org/

Posted by Gabriel Lundeen at 5:27 PM

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