I am deeply moved by these responses.
Response to Basil
I get your point and I experienced it firsthand in a running battle I had early last year in struggling to upgrade the essay on the Gyaman/Adinkra( Ghanian ethnicities) visual symbol system Adinkra to the level of sophistication I am convinced it should have. My changes were constantly being revoked, and, on one occasion, information I considered false was inserted into the entry.
I gave up and it took Professor Abiola Irele's invitation to me, on reading a post I made on Adinkra to the Wole Soyinka Society, to contribute the Adinkra essay to the Oxford Encyclopaedia of African Thought ( you can read the essay through the Amazon link but you might have to sign into Amazon} to say what I wanted to say about Adinkra the way I wanted to say it and,to make the experience even more inspiring, I got paid for it.
What that implies is that I have the Oxford reference to back up what I will later contribute to the Wikipedia article and not just links to my blogs on Adinkra, which that combative reviewer kept removing.
Please let me promote myself a little by giving the blogs links and viewer statistics-
(Blogs : Adinkra Meditations of Mark Dunn by my friend artist and thinker Mark Dunn-20 posts- last updated 2009-8021 views
Epa-2 posts- last updated March 2008-346 views
Adinkrahene-8 posts- last updated Feb 2008- 2579 views
As it is, I see the current Wikipedia article has a grammatical mistake in the first line and excludes the Gyaman contribution to Adinkra, leaving only the Akan. I will correct those, using the necessary references.
l will also reference in the body of the essay, rather than in a link as is the current situation, the adoption of the Adinkra name in a new symbol system in cosmological physics created by Sylvester James Gates and Michael Faux and expound my understanding of the implication of the relationships between the older and the newer system, using a carefully crafted contribution, with meticulous references to impeccable sources, privileging academic references, since they are a gold standard of evaluation.
I will also make sure I am vigilant in watching progress on the Adinkra essay and am active in the discussions between editors about changes so as to defend my contributions and garner support for them.This has to continue for as long as necessary to make sure the contributions are established, and even then, one has to be vigilant.
Such attitudes to developing and projecting knowledge are critical because throughout history the constitution of knowledge has been a field of conflict.
The observation that with the publicly generated information system now described as Web 2.0, or the second phase of the Web, exemplified par excellence by Wikipedia, the person who can sit longest in front of a computer is the person who is correct, has some truth to it.
As another person put it, who writes history is the victor, not the person who wins the war. This view states that the Greeks did not always win, but they wrote ferociously and so they are perpetually acclaimed.
One of the great challenges of African history is the absence of widespread writing, a number of the writing systems such as Nsibidi being largely esoteric, it seems.So, we are having to struggle to gather what we can from centuries of development that was limited to oral recording, while the Asian classics weathered colonialism and continue to feed the world because they were written down long ago by Asians who understand very well relationships between the oral and esoteric but did not choose to make most of their work esoteric and oral.
Somewhat painful, but the the nature of the authoritative is undergoing rapid change under the impact of the Internet, the world changing decisively once the Internet came on the scene, a change exemplified par excellence by Wikipedia. The Internet enables a much broader distribution of various levels of quality of information than ever before in recorded history.It represents an opportunity to contribute to shaping the global mind through the breadth of dissemination and the relative democracy of access for creation and consumption that it enables.
The various levels of public dissemination of knowledge, the production of information by authorities and that by anybody who cares to contribute, is conflated in Wikipedia.The encyclopaedia also runs a robust system of mutual revision and supervision that implies that inadequacies are steadily weeded out. It represents a totally different model of working than any that has been prevalent in history, to my understanding, and is one of the greatest ideas of humanity. It gives everyone a chance to tell their own story in a global format, on a location that is the first source of attention for many.
Most of my own research involves fields I did not study formally. My academic training is in literature but I work at the intersection of the visual and verbal arts, philosophy and spirituality. I find the Internet and Wikipedia priceless for guidance. After that I seek out the academic articles and the books. Most of the time the Wikipedia essays reference the right academic literature on such fields as sub-schools of Indian philosophy and Hinduism that interest me. On observing the level of detail and sophistication of the essays on Asian philosophies and religions, you might open your mouth in surprise.
Wikipedia is a game changer. Everyone who wants to say something needs to get on board and also contribute to funding it. They were asking for contributions from as low as £3 in their last funding round last year.
To Harrow
I get you there. I it took me a long time to be comfortable with it and am just getting the hang of it.
Its very simple really.
Just go to any Wikipedia page. Top right corner you will see the 'Create account' link.
Click on it and follow the instructions.
You will get a user name and password just like in your Google account and you are home.
Next step-
Once you are logged in, go to any article you want to edit, look at the top right hand section where it says, 'Edit'.
Click on it and the page will unfold at the bottom to let you to edit it.
Just type in what you want to type in then click ' Show preview' at the bottom to see what it will looks like when posted.
When you are satisfied, if its a minor edit, tick the box that says so at the bottom, If its major edit, then don't tick the box. That is so that others can be alerted to scrutinise your contribution.
Finally, click 'Save changes'. That will instantly upload the page with the contribution you have made.
If, at any point, you do not want to continue with the editing, clink "Cancel"
If you want to save your contribution and come back to complete it, one could save it on a Word file and come back later to continue editing.
Everything thing else is a complement to these basics and can be learnt as one persists in using the system.
I am trying to learn how to use the footnotes and will ask Bangura to guide me there
To Bangura
I am not suprised you have been on the game for long time on account of the scope of your restless intelligence in various disciplines and your burning, militant commitment to recreating the African story. Congrats on the job. Thank you very much for the welcome. I will look carefully at the point you made about Falola's work. It looks intriguing and most responsive to the need to develop maps of knowledge integrating online and offline sources.
On Wikipedia editing, I am puzzled about how to create links for references like the one in your contribution on this thread. How does one do that?
Thanks
Toyin
On Wed, Jan 2, 2013 at 2:44 AM, Abdul Bangura <theai@earthlink.net> wrote:
"Using E-clustering to Learn and Teach aboutMwalimu Toyin Falola": A Poignant ExampleIndeed, Mwalimu Toyin Adepoju, you have summarized the essence of Wikipedia quite well. In fact, in my chapter titled "Using E-clustering to Learn and Teach about Mwalimu Toyin Falola" in one of my books in progress, Wikipedia is one of the eight clusters comprising the "Falola E-clustering Strategy," which in turn entails seven sub-clusters. This is how powerful and popular our humble and selfless Mwalimu Falola and his work have become on the Internet, but needed computer clustering to reap its rewards.In the chapter, I had this to say about Wikipedia:"...entries in Wikipedia must provide citations that are unbiased and proven to be factual, and they are also reviewed by editors. Wikipedia is found to be as nearly as factually accurate as Encyclopedia Britannica and Encarta. Josten ends with the following poignant observation:""If you are still wondering if Wikipedia can be trusted, keep in mind that it took over 70 years and thousands of contributors, including an inmate in an asylum for the criminally insane, to create the original Oxford English Dictionary. Just because thousands of people have made a contribution, that doesn't inherently make the information incorrect."[19]
So, I welcome you to the Wikipedia family of editors, Mwalimu Toyin Adepoju. For many years now, my cry for more Afrikans to edit Wikipedia entries has fallen on the proverb deaf ears. So your effort must be commended.Since the first place most people doing research today consult is the Internet, and more than 23 million people consult Wikipedia each day and is the first Web site that pops up when searching most topics, it behooves us Afrikans to give a bit of our time editing the encyclopedia. If we do not take advantage of this opportunity, Afrikan thoughts and thinkers will remain marginalized. And if other folks who are less knowledgeable about them do so, we have no business complaining for our failure.Having edited more 100 Wikipedia entries dealing with Afrikan thinkers and contributions to mathematics, computer science, politics, economics, linguistics, Abrahamic faiths, etc., please do not hesitate to ask if I could be of assistance.In Peace Always,Abdul Karim Bangura/.----- Original Message -----From: OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJUSent: 1/1/2013 8:01:28 PMSubject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - CALL FOR ACTION ON WIKIPEDIA ESSAYSON LITERATUREI expect we all know that anyone can participate in Wikipedia and that its volunteers constitute anybody, from anywhere who cares to contribute. You dont need anyone's permission.You will have to make sure you can corroborate any statement you make and can defend it when challenged by other editors.
I have drafted a correction to the definition of literature in the essay but am learning how to integrate references as links in the body of the contribution.The job of making the Wikipedia essay more inclusive of world literature, particularly in the modern period, is a huge one, as shown by the level of detail given to modern Western literature, in which famous books are listed in terms of a year by year sequence of publication,with a focus on Western literature.A similar level of detail needs to be achieved on the other world literatures.I seem to have observed the same problem in the essay on modern art but will look more carefully at that.toyin
On Wed, Jan 2, 2013 at 12:40 AM, OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <tvade3@gmail.com> wrote:
I will respond only because it seems some people might not have understood my point, going by this response.I am asking everyone who can to participate in the project.toyin
On Tue, Jan 1, 2013 at 11:55 PM, Ikhide <xokigbo@yahoo.com> wrote:
Africans! Here we go again, reacting to the work of others, complaining, Oliver Twist, asking for more. Always reacting, never proactive. Would it not be simply easier for us to get off our lazy butts and improve upon Wikipedia by setting up a literature page the way we want it? Who and what stops us? I mean, why are we like this? It is very simple, no one will do for you what you must do for yourself. Go set up your own page, or beg them nicely to do it for you. It is a volunteer group, they are running as fast as they can. This man, you have a lot of time on your hands!- IkhideStalk my blog at http://www.xokigbo.com/Follow me on Twitter: @ikhideJoin me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhideFrom: OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <tvade3@gmail.com>
To: nigerianauthors <nigerianauthors@yahoogroups.com>; Jos ANA Discussion List <josana@yahoogroups.co.uk>; mbariliterarysociety <mbariliterarysociety@yahoogroups.com>; writerswithoutborders@yahoogroups.com; wolesoyinkasociety <wolesoyinkasociety@yahoogroups.com>; usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>; Mwananchi <Mwananchi@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 1, 2013 5:42 PM
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - CALL FOR ACTION ON WIKIPEDIA ESSAYS ON LITERATURE
CALL FOR ACTION ON WIKIPEDIA ESSAYS ON LITERATUREOluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
Compcros
"Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge"
"Unifying the Cosmos in a Grain of Sand"The Wikipedia essay on literature has at its top the following comment-"The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with English-speaking territories and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (May 2012)"On going to 'talk' or discussion page, I saw these comments, among others-"Huge problem with article
"I think there is a lot that can be done to improve this page, which I also found to be problematic, to put it mildly. As a literature professor and scholar in the field, I'm concerned that this page is inaccurate, incomplete and a very biased article which does not reflect current thinking on the topic. I'll collate some references and see if I can learn what the issues have been through reviewing the history of the literature page. If anyone has any insight, please feel free to contact me on my talk page. (Note, I'm new to Wikipedia, so if I've violated any protocols, please let me know-- but be nice!)"Article needs an overhaul
The article is confused enough to be close to misinformation, IMO. I'll try to copy edit a bit in the coming weeks. Could use help from people comfortable with literary history, theory, etc... Beyond the English language, even better. OttawaAC (talk) 23:07, 14 October 2012 (UTC)"I understand the essays on "Literature" and on "History of Literature" as having the following problems-1. They make scant reference to African literature outside ancient Egypt, talk less discussing the place of African literature in the context of world literature.
2. They fall into the fallacy of describing much of modern literature almost exclusively in terms of Western literature.
3. They describe literature as written texts while downplaying oral literature as controversial as to its literary quality.I urge everyone grounded in the relevant fields to do their best to correct these fallacies.
Wikipedia cannot be taken for granted beceause it is a first point of call for many people all over the world in searching for detailed information on almost any subject.
It provides a sterling opportunity to everyone to fight against marginalization in global discourse on behalf of any group.ThanksToyin--CompcrosComparative Cognitive Processes and Systems"Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge"--
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CompcrosComparative Cognitive Processes and Systems"Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge"--
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Compcros
Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems
"Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge"
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