Kids can join Wikimedia sister projects

[James Neill - UC]

janet, earlier you mentioned age requirements for blogger?, wordpress,
etc.

as far as i can tell (i can stand to be corrected), kids can join
wikipedia, wikiversity, etc.; they can create content in their own
user areas and create feeds, etc.

real, pseudo, and multiple identities are accepted

IMHO, editing wiki is a much safer way to start than blogging - blogs
tend to be written and old posts tend not to evolve and be updated,
whereas a wiki is more 'live' and forgiving in that respect - its also
very easy to revert, plus there's a lot more mentoring structure and
experienced hands around to help kids out (whereas with a blog, one is
on one's own in terms of managing content)

just a(nother) thought

[Janet Hawtin]

thought this was interesting
http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/woissues/civilliberties/cipaweb/adviceresources/schools.cfm

"The American Library Association believes strongly that the
Children's Internet Protection Act is unconstitutional in both the
context of the public library and the school library. The American
Library Association remains firmly committed to supporting the school
community and pledges to support any legal effort by school groups to
challenge the constitutionality of the Children's Internet Protection
Act in the school context."

[James Neill]

12 year old administrator on Wikipedia:
http://wiki-elysium.blogspot.com/2008/03/too-young-to-be-admin.html

--
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[Janet Hawtin]

On Fri, Apr 11, 2008 at 10:17 AM, James Neill <li...@wilderdom.com> wrote:
>
> 12 year old administrator on Wikipedia:
> http://wiki-elysium.blogspot.com/2008/03/too-young-to-be-admin.html

From ozteachers:
In research last year, AMCA (Australian Communications and Media
Authority) found that

* Home Internet access has gone from 7% in 1995 to 91% in 2007, 62% of
5-8 years olds use the Internet for schoolwork and this rises to 90%
for 12-14 year olds.
* Home internet access seems to be partly a function of means: 94 per
cent of households with children on incomes of more than $35,000 per
annum are online, compared with 75 per cent of those on less than
$35,000.
* On average, children 8–17 years spend about one and quarter hours
online every day. For teenagers 15–17 years, this is just under two
and a half hours a day. The internet does not take up as much time for
the younger children in ACMA's study: 8–11 year olds spend 30 minutes
a day online.

http://www.acma.gov.au/WEB/STANDARD/pc=PC_310897

[James Neill]

Great stats. It would also be useful to know the equivalent statistics for time spent online whilst at school and what they use it for. But I think we can safely assume that the vast majority of children's online education occurs outside of school.

Sounds like there is a future for ideas such as a Wikiversity Pre-tertiary portal.

[James Neill]

i am keen to try wiki with kids

so for fun i made

http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Crocodile


James Neill wrote:

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[James Neill]

I just discovered Simple Wikipedia:
http://simple.wikipedia.org

I created an account and within an hour, had a welcome message posted to my talk page from Razorflame, a 17 year old admin:
http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Razorflame



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[rgrozdanic]

hi james and others who are feeling frustrated about alot of the barriers etc

came across this while looking for something else (of course - i never find what *i'm* looking for...) - a page on "soft security" that i think articulates what many of you have been saying or thinking:

Soft security is like water. It bends under attack, only to rush in from all directions to fill the gaps. It's strong over time yet adaptable to any shape. It seeks to influence and encourage, not control and enforce.

it reminded me what you (james) were saying about not being able to take photos of your kids at the pool, which really struck a chord with me.  i think it also captures something of janet's tao-ish perspectives.

hope it's useful/thought provoking

r

[James Neill]

would you send your kids to this page?

Central Intelligence Agency - Kids' Page
https://www.cia.gov/kids-page

Do you think Rex should join Dogbook?
https://www.cia.gov/kids-page/k-5th-grade/the-cia-k-9-corps/meet-the-k-9s/rex.html

[James Neill]

hi rose, great link, much to digest, heartening stuff. i liked this:

"the safest place to keep money is in the middle of a table with lots of honest people around."


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[James Neill]

From "What to Do With Wikipedia"
http://www.infotoday.com/online/mar08/Badke.shtml

My favourite quotes from this article include:

"If the average university student can safely go to Wikipedia instead of consulting a specialized print reference source, then academia is broken."

"The most daring solution would be for academia to enter the world of Wikipedia directly. Rather than throwing rocks at it, the academy has a unique opportunity to engage Wikipedia in a way that marries the digital generation with the academic enterprise."

"Ultimately, the academy has to stop fighting Wikipedia and work to make it better".

"When professors are writing the articles or guiding their students in article production and revision, we may become much less paranoid about this wildly popular resource."

[Barbara Dieu]

James, I have added another Dahl crocodile to your page and a sound
file I had made for my EFL students - you can use it if you wish,
transform it into an open file or just trash it :-)
Warm regards,
Bee

--
Barbara Dieu
http://dekita.org
http://beewebhead.net

[James Neill]

Trevor trevains just joined wikiversity:
http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/User:Trevor_trevains

His user page reads "Hey I'm 14 years old, and like to learn to lessen my ignorance of the world around me. I speak close to fluent spanish, well versed in mathematics, and have many other qualities, i hope to learn much from the users on this site."

I think y'all get the idea. Wikis are 4 'kids' too. I hope we can learn from them.