NEWS
San Francisco Foghorn
2
FEBRUARY 26, 2009
Students Happy With Hip-Hop Choice
Chelsea Sterling/Foghorn
Although most students enjoyed Lupe Fiascos performance at the homecoming concert, somewished he had played longer than his scheduled one hour show.
DANIELA RICCITAM
Staff Writer
Class Defines USF on Wikipedia
Students in Professor David Silver’s In-troduction to Media Studies class learnedrsthand about the process of editing Wikipedia last semester in a nal projectthat required them to modify, rearrangeand in some cases rewrite the USF andSan Francisco Dons Wikipedia pages. Al-though they encountered some oppositionfrom the seasoned Wikipedians that editthe site, another class will be taking on thissame assignment this semester.“�e overall goal,” said Silver, “was tomake the University of San Francisco’s Wikipedia page more interesting, accurate,and up-to-date.” To do this, students were divided intoteams, each of which focused on a certainsection or subject in the USF wiki article—for example, campus dining, the baseballteam, or student-run organizations. �eseteams set forth to research their subjectand nd relevant, citable sources fromGleeson Library, as well as on the Internet.An important factor in creating materialon Wikipedia is sourcing, according to the Wikipedia policies and guidelines. With-out veriable sources, sections of articles orentire pages may be removed by Wikipe-dia editors.Given this danger of “speedy deletion,”students devoted time and care to their re-search.Freshman English major Vy Tran wasinvolved in a group that tackled the sub- ject of services for and statistics on inter-national students at USF. Her group, shesaid, “spent quite a few hours working onour section; we had some class time tomake edits, but most of our research andefforts were done outside of class time inthe library.”Silver said he was struck by how dili-gently these amateur wiki-editors attendedto their task.“What was particularly impressive wasthe way in which the project mattered tostudents,” he said. “Most of the students gotreally into the assignment and worked hardand creatively to nd new facts and add in-teresting content… some groups researched, wrote, and edited entirely new sections onUSF’s student population, student groups,and campus green initiatives.”Some of these entirely new sections faceda little difficulty in getting off the ground,and yet more of the content faced difficulty in remaining intact on Wikipedia.“Yeah, we had quite a bit of trouble with Wiki editors. My group was relatively lucky,” Tran said. “Other groups…had entire sec-tions or pages removed.” �e students’ conict with the Wikipediaeditors was often polite debate on the dis-cussion forum, although at times, said Tran,the verbal battles were less than friendly.“I think the editors were all well-mean-ing,” she said. “�ey wanted to help makethe page better and cleaner. I appreciatedthat, but I didn’t appreciate how some of them approached us.” For example, she said,one of the Wikipedia editors posted a criticalcomment saying, “If their parents are payingover 33K in annual tuition for them to edit Wikipedia articles, I suppose they must feelentitled to write about the cafeteria food.”“It’s just mean,” said Tran.In the end, she said, much of the student-editor disagreement “came down to thesequestions: Who’s the intended audience forthe University of San Francisco Wikipediapage? Who visits it the most? If the answerto those questions are current students andprospective students, shouldn’t the informa-tion reect what they want to know aboutthe school? And as a follow-up to that: whatinformation belongs on Wikipedia? What isconsidered encyclopedic?”By the time the assignment had conclud-ed, most of the disputes had been resolved,and a good amount of the student-producedcontent remained, if changed and movedaround a little. In many cases, students alsocooperated with the Wikipedia editors tocorrect their errors and hone their work. Tran said she thought that while mostof her group’s section had been modi-ed and shuffled around, the essentialsremained intact, and the article benetedfrom the changes.“Some of it was amazing,” said Silver.“In all, I think USF’s Wikipedia entry grew three-fold in size and content.” Tran agreed that the USF article looksmuch better post-project. “�ere’s a lotmore information on the USF page now than before, so that’s nice,” she said.However, there is still work to be done.“I’d love to see more images on it,” said Tran. “Our school is so beautiful.”Also, the project itself had a few aws.“I don’t think we - my students and I- were knowledgeable enough about Wikipedia - how it works, what consti-tutes “notable” information, and what todo when a Wikipedian tries to edit your work,” Silver said. �e time constraint was also a prob-lem for Tran, who said, “[�e work] wastoo great to handle for the time span wehad, which I think was about two weeksat most. We did well, all things consid-ered, but if, for example, it had been asemester-long project, I think the USF Wiki page would be even better.”Because of this, and because lastsemester’s nal assignment received somuch positive feedback from students,the Wiki project will be making a come-back this semester. Instead of around80 media studies students, the editing will be performed by a group of just 12:Silver’s Digital Media Production class.And this time, these would-be Wikipe-dians will be far more prepared.“Already, Brenda Hough, a librarianand Ph.D student who is writing her dis-sertation on Wikipedia, visited our classand taught us a lot about the complexity of Wikipedia. Also, this semester’s stu-dents have the benet of having createdand shared digital media for nearly 15 weeks,” Silver said. “I’m pretty excited tosee what they create.”
Freshman Read: Harvest For Hope
She braved the wilds of Tanzania, revo-lutionized an entire branch of zoology,and founded an international conservationsociety. She is Jane Goodall, the scientist,chimpanzee expert and author of 2006’s“Harvest for Hope,” the freshman book choice for next year.After this year’s politically-charged“�ree Cups of Tea,” Goodall’s “Harvestfor Hope” urges us back to our kitchensand supermarkets. Employing her rootsas an anthropologist and conservationist,Goodall explores the world’s tumultuousrelationship with food. Factory farming,genetically modied organisms (GMOs)and Burger King are just some of the top-ics she addresses. Essentially, the book is alevelheaded battle cry for local agriculture,organic food, and mindful eating.A committee comprised of faculty, li-brarians and student representatives chosethe book because it addresses economicand environmental justice. �ough thecommittee considered the topic for this year, the possible books were, according toprogram director Professor Fredel Wiant,“fascinating…but not very readable,” andthe nal pick went to “Harvest for Hope.” With today’s economy, environmentaland economic justice are even more im-portant. “Nutrition is a serious problem,”said Wiant. One can buy a week’s worthof organic, local food, but when she triedthis lifestyle, “the bill was exorbitant. �at’s where the economic justice comes in.”As for the incoming freshmen, Wianthopes that the book will “spark discus-sion and maybe even some controversy”among them. �ere are no easy answers forthe food industry—from the controversy over genetically engineered produce to theeconomic viability of local agriculture, de-bates rage on. At the very least, the book issomething “students can relate to.”At the same time, “Harvest for Hope”should not scare off less environmentally-savvy readers, or even those who mightdisagree with Goodall. “For the most part Ithink [Goodall’s] open-minded,” said Wi-ant. “One good way to alienate an audienceis to never make concessions.” Wiant also sees the integration pos-sibilities of “Harvest for Hope” extend-ing well beyond certain freshmen classes,to possibilities such as collaborating withBon Appétit and promoting locally-grownfood.Bon Appétit already follows some of the practices advised by Goodall. “Wepush local as much as possible,” said man-ager Holly Winslow. “If our president hadto choose between local or organic, he’d golocal.”Actual plans for bringing the book intothe community are still in their early stag-es, and the committee plans to establishmore contacts.Some USF freshmen have already en-couraged the book choice for the incomingclass. Ariana Fischer, an undeclared fresh-man, sees the book’s issues as “the next stepin solving obesity, global warming and thecollapse of local economies.” To freshman architecture major Fran-çois Toves, “Harvest for Hope” “representsthe city a lot. It’s a good introduction to what [freshmen] will experience in thecity.”act as a translator. Dube handed out vita-mins to hungry patients and had to turnaway 100 people from the clinic where sheand Scott were working after their resources were depleted. Dube said that every timeDr. Scott returns to Zimbabwe, which is 3-4 times per year, he is confronted by moreand more people seeking his aid.On her trip in late December, Dube saidthe volunteers instituted a lottery systemto see who of the hundreds of new people who had shown up to the clinic would betaken into the care of Scott. “Dr. Scott heldthe box and I called the numbers,” she said.“�ey were sitting in the rain, hoping they would get on board - on the life train – itis like your ticket to life. You are looking attheir faces, hoping they would get called but we could only take 25. I was sick after that, I was deciding who lives and who dies.”Scott, who is now seeing 750 patients inZimbabwe, said he is overwhelmed by thedemand for his services. “We don’t havethe nancial resources or enough doctors, when you have 100 people standing in frontof you saying ‘please save my life,’ it’s very depressing.” Scott and the organization he works with, the Allen Temple AIDSMinistry, use donations to buy AIDSmedication in India where local pharma-ceutical companies ignore internationalpatents on the drugs and manufacturethem for far less than they cost in theUnited States. A one-month supply of a three-drug cocktail which is given toScott’s patients costs $8.50, he said. �eAllen Temple then uses volunteer laborto solicit donations of multivitamins tostretch their nancial resources as far aspossible.Dr. Scott said he is grateful to USF students who are helping to collect do-nations. “�e bottom line is that inthird-world countries where the dietsof people are so poor, people who havemultivitamins live longer and healthierlives,” he said.USF will be accepting multivitamindonations all semester long at HealthPromotion Services outside the cafeteriaon main campus and University Minis-try. Student volunteers are also workingto get donation boxes in residence hallsand will be accepting donations at 5 p.m.Mass in St. Ignatius as well as studentMass in Xavier chapel.AIDS:
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HPS and University Ministry Coordinate Donations
MIMI HONEYCUTT
Staff Writer
Courtesy of Professor Lillian Dube
Professor Lillian Dube (Right) poses with hersister on a recent trip to Zimbabwe where sheworked with AIDS victims.
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