Hi Class,
WELCOME:
I hope that your holiday break was great: as productive and as relaxing as you wished it to be. This site will grow each week. Our OpenLab course site will act as an “intellectual home,” where we can post our ideas, read new texts, find out what is happening at City Tech, and research New York City.
WIKIPEDIA:
As we get to know each other, I believe that you will find that I am very fond of reading, and I am interested in new digital technologies. In particular, I like to examine digital tools that can help students work more efficiently. One such digital tool is Wikipedia. Hardly a week goes by when a friend, or a parent of a college student, or a colleague rips into Wikipedia (a new digital research tool) for its flimsy research, its weak documentation, its biased approach. Well, I’ve always thought that Wikipedia keeps gaining ground on other encyclopedias, and it looks like it has truly reached the tipping point, especially when esteemed historian William Cronon gives it the thumbs up:
Try this exercise: look up the terms “immigration”and “Brooklyn Bridge” on Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia and tell me which one is more complete with more footnotes and more resources.
HOMEWORK:
Go to the “Readings” menu tab and go down down to the bottom of the page to find the first article: “Reading #1: Isaac Asimov.” Print it out, and read it carefully. Circle any words that you don’t know and look them up. Lastly, write down two questions about the article; you may write the questions in your notebook or on the printed article. You do not have to turn these questions in.
Cheers and welcome to my class,
Prof. Scanlan
