Cohen: Research tool allows people to learn about KU
WiKUpedia is a great way to discover all aspects of the University
By Ben Cohen
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
A great commercial airs during the basketball games, where several aspects of the University are showcased in brief, action-filled clips, set to a combination of the University alma mater and the Rock Chalk chant. According to the clip, an incredible array of experiences exist at the University of Kansas, something I certainly will not argue with.
It is nearly impossible to find out exactly what all of the things on that screen were without conducting an extremely thorough, time-consuming study of the entire campus, and this to somebody who has had three years to learn about things.
After I learned a little about WiKUpedia, I began going through it myself, and I have to admit, I’ve become a little bit fascinated with it.
As it turns out, an easy place to research everything has recently been established. It’s called WiKUpedia, a simple wiki-style site created by a group of University students. The name should be pretty self-explanatory. Like Wikipedia, the site allows people to create or edit entries about any subject. The only difference is that, in this case, everything has a University focus.
The project was initially created by members of the group Connect, a Student Senate coalition. The group’s plan was to create a place where all students had easy access to information about Student Senate, which has long been notoriously complicated to those not heavily involved. The desire to set up a Web site where students could research the senate sprunge because Student Senate’s own Web site has not been updated since what may very well have been the Dark Ages.
Soon after WiKUpedia was introduced something happened. Within a few weeks of the site’s launch, there were already a few thousand unique visitors to it. People not in any way affiliated with Student Senate discovered WiKUpedia, and began shaping into something that transcended that one aspect of the University.
In the span of a few weeks, the site has gone from a repository of Senate information, to a place where one can find at least a little bit about anything related to the University.
I got in touch with Jason Oruch, one of the leaders of the Connect coalition, and he explained WiKUpedia “has expanded. It’s got article about campus buildings, University alumni, even camping for basketball tickets.”
Oruch described the site as having quickly become greater than a project of his coalition, and rather as a new resource for all students to both learn from and contribute to. Because of this, work on the site has actually split off from Connect, and gone to a new group called the WiKUpedia Project, devoted specifically to updating and expanding it to be as detailed as possible.
After I learned a little about WiKUpedia, I began going through it myself, and I have to admit, I’ve become a little bit fascinated with it. Like Jason had described to me, there have been at least brief articles written about many areas of campus, as well as notable alumni, and several professors. Many student organizations have also used the wiki to post detailed entries about themselves and their events.
The most thorough entries remain those about Student Senate, It will — I hope — continue growing at the pace it currently is, and finally there will be an organized place for people to learn about all that is KU.
Cohen is a Topeka junior in political science and English.
Discussion
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It's a fine article Ben but I'm disappointed (kinda sad actually) that you wrote this article from the standpoint of an unbaised observer, instead of an active participant in the coalition that you referred to. That is misleading, at best.
You can do better.
Nothing about what Ben did is misleading. dllcwbys22, care to point out what Ben said that isn't true? Ben did not create Connect or WiKUpedia, nor does he have a leadership role with either. The only role he has is as a supporter. So I guess he could have said that he supports WiKUpedia, but that was kind of implied by the fact that he wrote an entire column in support of it. What's your point?
Nothing he stated in the article about Connect or Wikupedia is misleading - that was not what I said. In fact, had the column been written by the editorial board - I think it would have been a solid article.
What I said (and what the editor said this morning) was that when writing an article about something you're involved in, you need to make sure that is known. That's basic journalism 101.
dllcwbys22, are you Adam McGonigle, president of United Students?
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