Wikipedia for schools
Wikipedia is great and it is huge. Schools especially in the developing world need good, free sources of knowledge. And Wikipedia’s main aims is to provide such a source of knowledge. Not necessarily is it ideally suited for for use in schools and by schoolchildren.
Therefore a project has been created within the Wikipedia community and in conjunction with SOS Children that main goal was to create a selection of Wikipedia articles for schools. The project’s website is:
http://schools-wikipedia.org/.
Best articles from the English Wikipedia were “handpicked”, fact checked, proofread and reviewed for accuracy and suitability. Extra material was added that is specifically selected to be of interest to children who follow the UK National Curriculum and similar curricula elsewhere in the world. Of course, all material that might be regarded as of adult nature was meticulously excluded. This is the 2007 edition of the material and it is also available as a CD-ROM/DVD or can be downloaded for free zip file (792 MB) or torrent (2.5 GB).
The selection is roughly equivalent to a 15 volume encyclopaedia with 24 000 pictures, 14 million words and articles on 4 625 topics.
Aside from being accessible on the site, it is also possible to download the entire selection via BitTorrent (2.5GB compressed with full size images, 792MB compressed with only thumbnail images).
Dr Andrew Cates, of SOS Children and himself a Wikipedia administrator, said:
“Wikipedia offers a fantastic learning resource. We are delighted to have been able to play a part in increasing the number of children who will be able to benefit from it. We are indebted to the volunteers in our offices and on Wikipedia who helped check articles and to the Wikipedia community for their help with this project.”
Further future updates of the Wikipedia School Selection are planned.
To request a DVD copy, email info@tuxlabs.co.za and put “Wikipedia for Schools” in the subject field.
