Wiki Reading

Wikipedia is fantastic mostly because it’s easy to use, and definitely because it’s free.  There’s no need to travel to the library to look up a date or pay Barnes and Noble if you only want to know a few names of British monarchs.  Well, someone thought it might be fun to take everything we love about wiki and change it.

Pediapress has decided it will now sell Wikipedia articles in book form for about $9 a piece.  Now, I’m all for books, I don’t know that I will ever support e-readers in their entirety, but seriously, why pay $9 for something I can read (or print myself) for free?  I mean, I know it’s fun to carry information around with you, but that’s what laptops are for.  Besides, if I’m going to invest in an encyclopedic book I’d rather have it be one that teachers allow to be cited in papers.

Translation to Go

It’s easier than ever now to check out words that aren’t exactly in your everyday vocabulary. Wikipedia, Apple’s dictionary widget, all are simple and effective when reading (often times for class) can go a little beyond what you’ve studied before. Now things are even more convenient.

The Dixau DX3 is a dictionary on the go, but better. The scanner will physically scan the word you don’t know with a built in camera and translate and define it for you. It will also speak the word if you wish to check pronunciation. The device is travel sized which is easier than always dragging a computer in your back pocket. For now the device is only available in Korea, but hopefully a good idea catches on here too.

The Importance of Trust

Starting this fall (meaning now) Wikipedia will become an even trustworthier source. I mean, I’ve never had a teacher who didn’t say “wikipedia is not a legitimate source” but lets be honest, it’s usually the first stop for anyone who just wants a quick answer.

The University of California has created a system (wikitrust) that will color code newly added information on wikipedia pages. Basically the longer a piece of information has remained on the page, the more truthful it’s likely to be (as no one has taken the time to edit it).

Registered wikipedia users are able to click the “trust info” tab and see color coding on whatever page they have chosen to view. How successful this will be in appeasing a teachers mind is questionable, but it certainly can’t hurt.