Milkweed: Wikipedia, World University and School, Natural Language and the Web

I created a Wikipedia entry for World University and School today - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_University_and_School.

[January 24, 2009: But Wikipedia 'marked it for quick deletion,' on the basis of 'significance,' a standard tag of theirs. I inserted the {{hangon}} tag, and wrote on the related Wikipedia 'talk page' how the significance of World University and School relates to its Wiki {editable web pages} approach to education and learning in all languages and subjects, where anyone can post or take a course, and WUaS' focus on the developing world and everyone. I also wrote that Jimmy Wales, the co-founder of Wikipedia, and founder of the Wikia foundation which has been hosting "World University and School" for almost a year, had said to me {in a Facebook chat} that he and Wikia would host it. I wonder why Wikipedia didn't acknowledge any of these reasons concerning significance, and chose to delete the entry instead.

The entry was deleted when I woke up the next day. World University and School's Wiki on Wikia has been up for almost a year now, and WUaS will potentially help a lot of people, especially in the developing world, and may complement richly the digital renaissance which we're in the midst of. It could also help to make computer use much more widespread in the developing world. So Wikipedia's system didn't work in this instance.

This happened with one other entry I made in Wikipedia on 'Democracy School.' It was deleted right away, but I was later able to re-enter it as the 'Daniel Pennock Democracy School,' here - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Pennock_Democracy_School. So I may be able to create an entry on 'World University and School' again in Wikipedia, possibly by changing its name a little. I may also contact Jimmy Wales. I wonder how many great entries we've lost due to Wikipedia's policy and practices.

Drawing on Wikipedia's experience, I wonder how to develop more open approaches to stewardship and policies for course entries for World University and School is an interesting question, while articulating WUaS with great universities and schools.]

Here's World University and School's Wiki: worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/World_University.

And here's World University and School's Facebook page: facebook.com/group.php?gid=48753608141&ref=ts


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I learned about Ubiquity - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubiquity_(Firefox) - today, which Ubiquity calls "an experiment into connecting the Web with language in an attempt to find new user interfaces that make it possible for everyone to do common Web tasks more quickly and easily." It allows you to structure questions in your browser, using natural language, and what could become voice commands. Super cool.


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Ah, the relaxation response - relaxationresponse.org/steps ... and Harbin pools soon :)


Milkweed and Monarch butterfly symbiosis in the photograph {click on title} ...