I can’t imagine life before Wikipedia, well 2001. It was a cyberspace Odyssey! It’s become the way most adults of a certain age find facts whilst watching a TV show. It’s also become the way most children complete their homework (I know my Year 7s used to copy and paste what I’d asked them from Wikipedia – a discussion about copying and not writing down where you took the information from usually followed.

It wasn’t until I got a job as a teacher of ICT at my secondary school, which didn’t have a Wikipedia page, I decided to sign up as a Wikipedia and set up a page on my old school. I learnt how to set up sections, add links and edit Wikipedia pages. I have since added to pages on my interests, mostly TV shows such as Doctor Who and to pages on Learning Technology if I spot an error or think there needs to be more information on a topic. I have not done much Wikipedia editing in the last few years, but this week has made me login and look around at pages I have edited in the past.

I’ve learnt a lot from and about Wikipedia, mostly TV trivia and fun facts but also leads to serious books, articles and resources in my line of work, i.e. Learning Technology and Pedagogy.

I like the public domain I have chosen, it’s Jimmy Wales, Co-Founder of Wikipedia, it looks like my history teacher in School!