Wikipedia is the current king of the encyclopedia world. Encyclopaedia Britannica, remember, announced they were ceasing print publication several weeks ago. Now Wikipedia—and their parent Wikimedia Foundation—want to conquer the final frontier: Academia. If Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales and his acolytes have their way, professors will edit Wikipedia pages in their fields, add content in foreign languages, and allow their students to cite Wikipedia articles in papers.
The Wikipedia Education Program is an ambitious worldwide project aimed at “expand[ing] Wikipedia’s use as a teaching tool worldwide.” It’s also an easy way for Wikipedia to boost foreign-language content in critical markets like Brazil and the Arabic world, and for the open encyclopedia to transform itself into a bona fide research engine for academia. The move also comes, as The Atlantic’s Alexis Madrigal noticed, at the same time Google quietly sidelined Google Scholar, apparently to put focus on higher revenue-generating services. For the not-for-profit Wikipedia, storming the barricades of academia and being accepted there is a very desirable goal.
» via Fast Company
