User:jbmurray
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I am an assistant professor in Latin American Studies at the University of British Columbia. Previously, I worked in the UK (where I am from), and I have a Ph.D from Duke University.
I first came here when I realized that there was a Wikipedia article on Posthegemony. And then I stayed.
On Wikipedia I am mostly interested in improving the coverage of Latin American literature and culture. I'm not terribly active these days, though this varies.
[edit] Views on Wikipedia
I believe that academics should be involved in Wikipedia, and that Wikipedia has a place in higher education. This does not mean, however, that I endorse everything about the encyclopedia. Indeed, I believe that almost all the criticisms you hear about Wikipedia are almost entirely correct; but that this is precisely why we should be involved.
I have given various talks about Wikipedia, social media, and education. For instance, at UBC I was part of a panel on "Academic Adventures in Wikipedia". And here I am at Northern Voice, 2010. At Southampton University in the UK I gave a presentation on "Knowledge 3.0: E-Learning, Social Media, and the Neoliberal University" And more recently, at Canada's ACCESS2011 conference, I gave a related presentation entitled "From Access to Interactivity".
Lots of people seem to have liked my essay "Was Introducing Wikipedia to the Classroom an Act of Madness Leading Only to Mayhem if not Murder?" In Barcelona, they even turned it into a leaflet.
And along with Awadewit and AEG_English4994 (who did most of the work), I helped write an essay on "Opening Up the Academy with Wikipedia" for the open-source book Hacking the Academy
[edit] Wiki philosophy
I try to edit in line with the Bold, Revert, Discuss cycle. And in response to other people's edits, I hold dear the maxim that "when someone makes an edit you consider biased or inaccurate, improve the edit if you can, rather than reverting it." A good faith edit, even when it itself is wrong, almost always indicates a problem with the original text, which should therefore be improved somehow.
This is therefore an attempt to keep to a zero revert rule. I admit that I'm not always successful, and that I take short cuts when I feel pressed for time.
Following a Request for adminship in May 2008, I am an administrator on the English Wikipedia. This means that if you have difficulties, I can help out or, more likely, point you in the right direction. If you don't like what I'm doing, I am open to recall in line with the default process, although in my case only three editors are required to trigger the recall.
You can see my administrative actions here: jbmurray (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights).
[edit] Murder, Madness, and Mayhem
In Spring 2008, I coordinated the educational project Murder, Madness, and Mayhem. In one semester we promoted three articles to Featured Article status, eight to Good Article status, and one to B-Class status. More details are available on our project page.
See also: "Was Introducing Wikipedia to the Classroom an Act of Madness Leading Only to Mayhem if not Murder?"
I have been working on a further essay, "Advice on Using Wikipedia in Colleges and Universities." Do tell me what you think.
[edit] North of the Río Grande
In Fall 2008, I coordinated the educational project North of the Río Grande. This was not quite the success of Murder, Madness, and Mayhem, but we managed to improve a number of articles about Latino and Chicano literature to Good Article status. More details are available on our project page.
[edit] Magical Realism Reconsidered
In Spring, 2010 I coordinated the educational project Magical Realism Reconsidered, which contributed a couple of good articles, but which also for the first time involved contributing to the Spanish Wikipedia.
[edit] Other projects
Over the past couple of years, my educational projects have concentrated on the Spanish Wikipedia, and have included contributions to articles about Latin American Cultural Studies and about the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges.
[edit] Resources
[edit] Stuff
[edit] IP addresses
I believe that this is probably me, as is this. There are no doubt other occasions when I have edited without being logged in, though I try to avoid the practice.
[edit] Funny
- On one football player's trademark goal celebrations.
- Wikipedia administrators
- User en
- User en-N
- User es
- User es-4
- Wikipedians with PhD degrees
- Wikipedia featured article contributors
- Wikipedia Good Article contributors
- Wikipedia Did you know contributors
- Wikipedians who contribute to the Spanish Wikipedia
- Wikipedia administrators open to recall
- Wikipedians in Vancouver
