Karl Katzke

Ok, here’s another Seth Godin article that I disagree with: “The Wikipedia Gap.

Point 1: Wikipedia is not an expert source. While great strides are being made to clean it up and provide references, the fact still remains that anyone with an agenda can remake an article the way they want to. The way words are written has a very powerful effect on how they’re interpreted. Yes, it’s a real encyclopedia. No, it should not be a primary source because it’s only impartial when measured over time.

Point 2: Yes, students still need to learn how to research. Encyclopedia articles were verboten (period! No exceptions!) when I went through school, and I only graduated from high school ten years ago and college six years ago. Encyclopedias can help you define and focus your search, but they are NOT primary sources. So it makes sense that Wikipedia is not allowed as a primary source! On top of that, allowing wikipedia so that students “don’t have to search as hard” is shortchanging those students who want to go on to advanced studies and don’t know how to do basic research. Research is a skill that has to be learned — and googling is not research.

Point 3: Yes, researching is a significant part of the process. Your research guides your thoughts, so it’s natural to spend 80% of your time researching and being led by your research. Forging ahead of your research or ignoring where it leads you is what leads you to produce faulty thoughts, bad ideas, and bad thinking.

And Seth, fer chrissakes, please turn your comments on so that I don’t have to write a whole blog article on my own blog to deflate your exuberantly expanded ego.