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NMH: A Wikipedia Teaching Moment

Yours truly is teaching an experimental intro class on, essentially, history of computing and very basic programming for non-majors. Think how to convince journalism underclassmen that computing, as an intellectual endeavor, is important.

Today I talked a bit about the Wikipedia in lecture. I even pulled up a Britney Spears page and hand waved about how I could vandalize it live and it would be fixed by the end of class. Note that I'm doing this in a pretty big lecture hall with the page projected to about 10 feet high. (Note to Alex H. Big for us is 20+ students. I feel your pain)

Enterprising student with laptop, and wireless access, vetts my claim, hacks Britney's page, and asks me to refresh. "Britney Spears (is in love with Brian Dennis) ...". Much laughter ensues. You get the picture. (For a bunch of technophobes, NU journalism majors are pretty well equipped)

I roll with the punch, laugh at myself and leave Britney up on the big board, and move on with the discussion. Not more than 2 minutes later, Britney's page has been fixed. The collective power of the Wikipedians has been amply demonstrated.

Best live demo I've ever given in my life.

And +1 on Professor D. He's got a sense of humor and he knows what he's talking about.

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