Watchlist spam: get professors to use WP!, :facepalm: Options

[SB_Johnny]

Are you interested in encouraging more university professors to use Wikipedia as a teaching tool? Do you enjoy leading, coordinating, and organizing teams? If so, we want you! We are now recruiting for Wikipedia Regional Ambassadors to the multiple regions of the U.S. Click here for more details. [hide]

I didn't click, but it looks ugly.

[Mister Die]

What'd be the point of using Wikipedia or any encyclopedia (real ones, that is) in general? Aren't professors supposed to be learned enough about the subjects they talk about to the extent that they could teach more or less on their own terms with various books or articles?

[mbz1]

What'd be the point of using Wikipedia or any encyclopedia (real ones, that is) in general? Aren't professors supposed to be learned enough about the subjects they talk about to the extent that they could teach more or less on their own terms with various books or articles?

Of course no professor and no teacher will ever use any encyclopedia to teach students.

See the promised benefits for the job.

What Regional Ambassadors Get (Benefits)

Here are what we see as the three biggest benefits to being a Regional Ambassador:

Customized leadership and management coaching - We will provide close, personal guidance and mentorship throughout the entire Regional Ambassador term to help develop and practice your leadership and community-organizing skills.
Significant resume boost - you will be the very first generation of Regional Ambassadors, an important leadership role that is likely to translate very well into leadership roles in other organizations you may apply to in the future. In addition, we'd be more than happy to provide letters of recommendation to good Regional Ambassadors down the line.
Invitation (and free travel) to some key Wikimedia events - we will be announcing our "Wikipedia in Education Summit" soon. This event will bring together some key professors, Campus Ambassadors, Online Ambassadors, and students who have been involved in this program, along with various Wikimedia staff (including our Executive Director and our Chief Global Development Officer). Due to limited capacity this event will be by invitation only, and Regional Ambassadors will certainly be on the invitee list and will be specially recognized at this event, and we will pay for most of your travel and lodging costs.

And here are their responsibilities

Recruit and coordinate with professors in your region interested in using Wikipedia as a teaching tool in upcoming academic terms

and so on.

And http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...oldid=478666921 here's what SandyGeorgia had to say about recruiting students:

I was kinda following you .. until ... ummm, we ''are'' working for the WMF now. Like it or not, and it does affect us. In my area of editing, we are getting ''killed'' by their efforts to recruit students who are editing and damaging medical articles-- quantity over quality, and that is precisely what is making Wikipedia least enjoyable for me right now. Cleaning up copyvio and POV and all manner of crap after editors who are doing it for a grade and won't stick around. The rest is little stuff.

This post has been edited by mbz1: Fri 2nd March 2012, 7:56pm