Can we put the puzzle together?

Wikipedia is untrustworthy.

Wikipedia is created by everyone.

Wikipedia is too complicated.

At some point or another, we've all probably heard at least one of these critiques of the well-known (and well-used) media form, Wikipedia. I know I have, and I've been under the impression that I shouldn't use it more than as a jumpstart for finding information. For the first two, I say to myself, "yeah, yeah, okay, I get that. I'll use it for the sources then, or maybe to get general information." But, what is often most difficult for me is the last critique: "Wikipedia is too complicated."

When you open a page on Wikipedia, you are bombarded with information. It's overwhelming. There are hyperlinks everywhere, often an extremely long table of contents, and so much information that isn't necessary to what I want to know.

After today's class, let me just say, it doesn't need to be like that.

After learning about the program, going through steps for how to use it, and just exploring the page, I felt much less overwhelmed and more like, "I can do this! I can use Wikipedia well!" I hope students would feel this way as well--they just need the tools and experience just like me. So, after class today and this *somewhat* grand shift in thought, I think teaching students and walking through how to use tools like Wikipedia is extremely necessary. Then, we can teach them how to be affective researchers, learners, and contributors to the greater communities of Wikipedia, on the Internet, and with each other.

So, as the logo suggests, let's put the puzzle pieces together and contribute to the beautiful, sometimes chaotic, mosaic called the Earth community.