Eduard Aibar

Wikipedia at university: what faculty think and do about it

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate university faculty perceptions and practices of using Wikipedia as a teaching resource. Design/methodology/approach – This study is based on a large survey to all faculty members in two large public universities. A total of 913 valid responses were collected through an online questionnaire with 9 control variables and 41 Likert-scaled questions. Findings – The results do not support an overwhelming sceptical attitude among faculty towards Wikipedia. The overall quality of Wikipedia articles is highly valued and most faculty are regular users, just as students are. Though most faculty show a positive view on the teaching usefulness of Wikipedia, few of them actually use it for teaching purposes. A certain conflict has been detected between standard academic procedures of knowledge building and the open collaborative model on which Wikipedia rests. In the end, two important factors play a role in shaping faculty views: their colleagues’ perceived opinion...

Bridging the gap between wikipedia and academia

In this opinion piece, we would like to present a short literature review of perceptions and reservations towards Wikipedia in academia, address the common questions about overall reliability of Wikipedia entries, review the actual practices of Wikipedia usage in academia, and conclude with possible scenarios for a peaceful coexistence. Because Wikipedia is a regular topic of JASIST publications (Lim, 2009; Meseguer‐Artola, Aibar, Lladós, Minguillón, & Lerga, ; Mesgari, Okoli, Mehdi, Nielsen, & Lanamäki, ; Okoli, Mehdi, Mesgari, Nielsen, & Lanamäki, ), we hope to start a useful discussion with the right audience.

Towards a Network Government? A Critical Analysis of Current Assessment Methods for E-Government

Contemporary public administrations have become increasingly more complex, having to cordinate actions with emerging actors in the public and the private spheres. In this scenario the modern ICTs have begun to be seen as an ideal vehicle to resolve some of the problems of public administration. We argue that there is a clear need to explore the extent to which public administrations are undergoing a process of transformation towards a netowork government linked to the systematic incorporation of ICTs in their basic activities. Through critically analysing a selection of e-government evaluation reports, we conclude that research should be carried out if we are to build a solid government assessment framework based on network-like organisation characteristics.

Explaining teaching uses of Wikipedia through faculty personal and contextual features

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore which personal and contextual factors affect the use of Wikipedia as a teaching resource in higher education institutions. Design/methodology/approach This research question is approached by investigating faculty perceptions and attitudes in two large Spanish universities. For this purpose, a comprehensive empirical study has been employed, based on an online survey to faculty members and the inclusion of a decision-making model in the analysis. Findings Data provide evidence that a combination of cultural, social and subjective factors influences the decision to use Wikipedia. This decision is not only associated with lecturers’ individual characteristics, but mostly with surrounding influences. Teaching uses are more frequent when academics have close reference models and when they perceive that Wikipedia is being positively valued by their colleagues. Research limitations/implications The present study provides a creative framework to analyze the main determining factors of Wikipedia usage by faculty. The inclusion of both internal and external factors in the decision process has proved to be a valuable novelty. Practical implications The study detects the main factors affecting the negative or reluctant attitude toward Wikipedia and provides some recommendations to overcome these barriers. Originality/value The study widens the scope of previous investigations supplying a new research framework and including, for the first time, a prominent online university in the analysis in order to discard the potential effects of digital and information illiteracy among students and faculty members.

Lessons from the Digital Divide

This chapter explores the recent scholarship on the digital divide in order to draw useful lessons for the analysis of the robotics divide. We pay special attention to the evolution of the research on the digital divide, from early approaches to more recent trends. First, the persistent nature of the digital divide and the main sources of inequality are discussed. Then, an overview of the multifaceted and complex nature of the divide is provided. Particular attention is paid to (a) a new understanding of access, considering not only material but motivational access, (b) the relevance of the skills involved, and the different typologies available and (c) the importance of usage and user profiles when exploring social inequalities: the digital divide tens to appear smaller when actual use is not taken into account. Finally, some usual conceptual and methodological assumptions underlying most research on the digital divided are discussed and criticized.