Encyclopedia Wars Heat Up

Dear Diary,
Who do you Trust?

March 28, 2006
(CBS) The renowned and trusted Encyclopedia Britannica has been known for centuries as "the foremost authority on a topic."

Even Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia, describes the Britannica series of reference books that way. But as CBS News correspondent Mike Brzezinski reports, for students like 16-year-old Jordan Browning, Wikipedia, not Britannica, is often the first stop for research.

Why?

"It's good to have different encyclopedias out there," Browning says.

While the Encyclopedia Britannica pays scholars to write and fact check its articles, Wikipedia relies on anybody with an Internet connection to create and monitor and eidt its entries.

Which one is more accurate? Last December, the scientific journal Nature found that among 42 entries tested, there was little difference in the error rate between Wikipedia and Britannica.

That's not exactly music to the ears of Jorge Cauz, the president of Encyclopedia Britannica. He maintains that there is no substitute for his company's careful editing.

"We strive for three things: objectivity, factually correct information, and understandable information," he says. "It's clearly evident others are not achieving it." When asked if he means Wikipedia, he replies, "Yeah, of course."

This week, Britannica put that in black and white with a line-by-line rebuttal of the Nature report and an open letter to the journal.

"We were surprised to see them take it so hard," says Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia.

Wales acknowledges there have been some high-profile mistakes on his site — and that Wikipedia has a ways to go to match its long-established rival. But he says he expects that to change.

"I think it's very difficult for a traditional model like Britannica ... in the long run to compete with, you know, thousands of people working day and night," he says. "This is about a rigorous editorial process versus community-generated content."

And it's students like Jordan Browning who will decide the winner of the encyclopedia war.

©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

A Word to the Wise is Sufficient

Dear Diary,

I have begun grading my final assignments that were submitted early, during the last class session. I purposely tried to allow ample time for my students to complete the last assignment in class. I think it is a great benefit to be there to answer questions, right when the information is freshest in their minds.

Also, it is a marvelous way to observe their approach to the assignment, i.e. Group work vs. independent. What I find amusing, is that after having toiled all the live-long-day, taking pain-staking measures to impart the intricate strategies to search CrossFire, SciFinder Scholar, NCBI, USPTO, etc... there are those who immediately resort to GOOGLE.

Don't get me wrong, I love Google as much as the next gal, but for the love of Pete. I have put my figurative blood, sweat and tears into demonstrating advanced search techniques for powerful subscription databases with proprietary information but they are obviously no match for the omnipotent Google.
*

What can I say?

The others "Are Not Worthy..." Ha!

************************************
As a personal touch, I add a motivational quote to each grade sheet when I return assignments to my students, recent examples include:

Assignment #5
"Attempt the end and never stand to doubt;
Nothing's so hard, but search will find it out."
by Robert Herrick, Hesperides--Seeke and Finde

Assignment #6
"Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life."
by Immanuel Kant

Assignment #7
"Let your imagination release your imprisoned possibilities."
by Robert H. Schuller

Assignment #8
“Winners compare their achievements with their goals,
while losers compare their achievements with those of other people”
by Nido Qubein

Assignment #9
“I'm glad I did it, partly because it was worth it,
but mostly because I shall never have to do it again!”
by Mark Twain

Judge Not...Lest Ye Be Judged.

Dear Diary,

I always maintained that I would be "dangerous if I knew ACTUALLY what I was doing, in my professional life!"

Now I get a chance to prove it. I was asked to teach the Chemistry Database class when it is offered again in the fall. I was a wee bit stressed (challenged in a positive, motivational, and educational way.)

However, I now have a pretty good grasp of the databases and so the next time I teach I should be able to spend considerably less time "learning as I teach." Phew!

The only thing that I had to decide for myself was "my grading philosophy."

My manager challenges my "A" for Effort approach pointing out that there is a difference between "A" effort and "A" work. He asks if it is fair to students who do "A" work to give similar grades to those who do not.

I guess my problem is how does one judge "A" work in regards to searching a database. Sure there are those examples when draw a compound structure/reaction in CrossFire database and then you further limit the results by specifying a Melting Point range and Disassociation Exponent which will yield only 1 result, yes in that case it is easier to judge wheteher the student gets the correct answer or not.

But I guess I prefer to consider the progress made in comprehension. Basically if the student's performance improves from week to week. My counter argument to my manager is, "Well some students take me up on my offer of assistance during Office Hours. Those students who sit with me and review each assignment question, will inevitably get the correct answer. Ergo doing "A" work. But what about students who attempt it on their own and perhaps miss 1 step in a 5 step process but understood the overall process based on the outcomes, etc..."

But once again, this has been a shining example of my indomitable potential.

If I Were President....or at least Councilor-at-Large

Dear Diary,

I have received very positive feedback on my Statement of Professional Concerns:

Librarians propagate comprehensive information through collection, scholarly publication, exhibits and speeches.

A critical component include forging diversity in library’s racial and religious compositions. Library collections must raise awareness of conditions concerning underrepresented populations, globally. I utilize my training to unearth and disseminate information about obscure issues.

As a representative of “Diversity,” it is incumbent upon me to include unrepresented beliefs, lifestyles and values. People confuse my being an African-American, as the sum total of my diversity contribution.

Fortunately, I also have non-conformist ideals, and I’m not afraid to vocalize them.

I am an “Activist Librarian.” I don’t believe librarianship is a passive profession. I am passionate about social issues.

Librarians must lead the way, since we are uniquely positioned to stem society’s arrested development, by collection management from divergent sources.

ANDNOT..My Latest Creation.

I have 2 more lectures to do: Patents and NCBI. Ugh!!!

Sensing my stress level my manager encouraged me by saying that "I am one of only 2 people on the entire ND campus who effectively search these databases!!" That really helps....Baptism by Fire!


http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0883926.html:

African American Inventors

Thomas L. Jennings (1791–1859)
A tailor in New York City, Jennings is credited with being the first African American to hold a U.S. patent. The patent, which was issued in 1821, was for a dry-cleaning process.

Norbert Rillieux(1806–1894)
Born the son of a French planter and a slave in New Orleans, Rillieux was educated in France. Returning to the U.S., he developed an evaporator for refining sugar, which he patented in 1846. Rillieux's evaporation technique is still used in the sugar industry and in the manufacture of soap and other products.

Benjamin Bradley(1830?–?)
A slave, Bradley was employed at a printing office and later at the Annapolis Naval Academy, where he helped set up scientific experiments. In the 1840s he developed a steam engine for a war ship. Unable to patent his work, he sold it and with the proceeds purchased his freedom.

Elijah McCoy(1844–1929)
The son of escaped slaves from Kentucky, McCoy was born in Canada and educated in Scotland. Settling in Detroit, Michigan, he invented a lubricator for steam engines (patented 1872) and established his own manufacturing company. During his lifetime he acquired 57 patents.

Lewis Howard Latimer(1848–1929)
Born in Chelsea, Mass., Latimer learned mechanical drawing while working for a Boston patent attorney. He later invented an electric lamp and a carbon filament for light bulbs (patented 1881, 1882). Latimer was the only African-American member of Thomas Edison's engineering laboratory.

Granville T. Woods(1856–1910)
Woods was born in Columbus, Ohio, and later settled in Cincinnati. Largely self-educated, he was awarded more than 60 patents. One of his most important inventions was a telegraph that allowed moving trains to communicate with other trains and train stations, thus improving railway efficiency and safety.

Madame C.J. Walker(1867–1919)
Widowed at 20, Louisiana-born Sarah Breedlove Walker supported herself and her daughter as a washerwoman. In the early 1900s she developed a hair care system and other beauty products. Her business, headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, amassed a fortune, and she became a generous patron of many black charities.

Garrett Augustus Morgan(1877–1963)
Born in Kentucky, Morgan invented a gas mask (patented 1914) that was used to protect soldiers from chlorine fumes during World War I. Morgan also received a patent (1923) for a traffic signal that featured automated STOP and GO signs. Morgan's invention was later replaced by traffic lights.

Frederick McKinley Jones(1892–1961)
Jones was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. An experienced mechanic, he invented a self-starting gas engine and a series of devices for movie projectors. More importantly, he invented the first automatic refrigeration system for long-haul trucks (1935). Jones was awarded more than 40 patents in the field of refrigeration.

David Crosthwait, Jr. (1898–1976)
Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Crosthwait earned a B.S. (1913) and M.S. (1920) from Purdue University. An expert on heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, he designed the heating system for Radio City Music Hall in New York. During his lifetime he received some 40 U.S. patents relating to HVAC systems.
Information Please® Database, © 2005 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Damon Wayans Tries to Trademark 'N' Word

Dear Diary,

Next week we are teaching the students how to use the United States Patent and Trademark Office Databases. So it was especially interesting to me to find this article:

The actor Damon Wayans has been engaged in a 14-month fight to trademark the term "Nigga" for a clothing line and retail store, a search of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's online database reveals.

Wayans wants to dress customers in 14 kinds of attire from tops to bottoms, and use the controversial mark on "clothing, books, music and general merchandise," as well as movies, TV and the internet, according to his applications.

But, so far, his applications have been unsuccessful. Trademark examiner Kelly Boulton rejected the registration dated Dec. 22, citing a law that prohibits marks that are "immoral or scandalous." A previous attempt by Wayans was turned down on identical grounds six months earlier.

"While debate exists about in-group uses of the term, 'nigga' is almost universally understood to be derogatory," Boulton wrote to Wayans' attorney, William H. Cox, according to the application.

Cox and other representatives of the actor did not respond to interview requests about the registration. Wayans can appeal the rejection, but experts in trademark law differ on his chances for success.

Lynda Zadra-Symes, a trademark lawyer in California, said Wayans may be successful. She compared "Nigga" to the successful registration of Dykes on Bikes. The San Francisco Women's Motorcycle Contingent fought the Trademark Office for three years to overturn an initial rejection of a Dykes on Bikes trademark. The mark was published Jan. 24.

However, Tawnya Wojciechowski, another trademark attorney practicing in California, compared Wayans' application to the ongoing legal case where Washington Redskins trademarks have been challenged by seven Native Americans. "They're going to have a really tough time," Wojciechowski predicted.

The word "nigga" is ubiquitous in hip-hop music, where it provides half of a rhyming couplet radio listeners never get to hear in the Grammy-winning song "Gold Digger" by Kanye West.

Ol' Dirty Bastard used the term 76 times in the 1999 album Nigga Please, not counting repetitions in a chorus.

In January 2006, an episode of the late-night Cartoon Network series Boondocks was criticized for putting the word in the mouth of a fictionalized Martin Luther King Jr.

The effort to commercialize "nigga" drew a sharp response from a black school official who participated in a forum about the word earlier this month at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.

"I don't care for it in any form," said Dr. Lonnie Williams, associate vice chancellor for student affairs. "Either way you pronounce it, spell it, anything associated with it -- I find it offensive."

If Wayans succeeds in persuading the Trademark Office to permit the mark, he may have to deal with Keon Rhodan, a 29-year-old entrepreneur in Charleston, South Carolina, who has been using "Nigga" on a line of T-shirts, hoodies and other attire for six years in a part-time, trunk-of-his-car business.

Rhodan attempted to register "Nigga' Clothing" as a trademark in 2001 and was denied by the Trademark Office. "They said it was disparaging," he said. Rhodan, who is black, said that he's sold around 2,000 of the shirts at events.

Rhodan believes that affectionate use of the term within the black community should make it an acceptable mark, but the Trademark Office has thus far has not been persuaded by that argument.

Though attempts to commercialize "Nigga" coincide with a generational shift in how the word is perceived, the clothing is still likely to test some boundaries, as Rhodan demonstrated in a phone interview. "You couldn't wear it," he said.

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/1,70259-0.html