User:AaronJLawler

= User:AaronJLawler = I am a college professor at Waubonsee Community College, Sugar Grove IL. I have been an educator for fifteen years, and yes I am one of THOSE teachers who encourages the use of Wilkipedia. I am also a published author, contributing to peer review articles and am an editor/advisory board member for McGraw Hill Clashing Views in Educational Psychology and McGraw Hill Clashing Views on Education Issues. I serve on a number of boards and associations including WTTW Channel 11 Community Advisory Board Member. I have also recently published my first novel, The Marvelous Paracosm of Fitz Faraday and the Shapers of the Id.

How to use Wikipedia
Some useful articles on using Wikipedia for research:
 * 1) How do I use Wikipedia for research?
 * 2) How reliable is Wikipedia?
 * 3) Finding your source in Wikipedia
 * 4) The Wikipedia Reference Desk

A Wikipedia Editor
I think the most transparent thing you can do as a Wikipedia editor is demonstrate your bias. Anyone who tells you they are "neutral" or "unbiased" is being disingenuous. My meaning here is that we all bring biases to the table. For instance to say someone is "color blind" when it comes to race relations is untrue. Everyone sees "color" or "race" and to argue that one is "color blind" is simply fighting ignorance with more ignorance. Instead, we should acknowledge our biases, determine their origination, and then question our writings and teachings when they only serve our bias.

Wikipedia is a beautiful concept
Wikipedia is founded on five pillars: (1) Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, (2) Wikipedia is written from a neutral point of view, (3) Wikipedia is free content that anyone can use, edit, and distribute, (4) Editors should treat each other with respect and civility, and (5) Wikipedia has no firm rules. I believe, knowledge should be free and open to the public. I also believe that we all have something to contribute to the body of knowledge.

Thomas Kuhn's paradigm theory (initially applied to science) helped shaped my ideals concerning knowledge and knowledge dissemination. As a member of academia, I play into the paradigm model, which simply states that academics and professionals have a vested interest in keeping status quo or otherwise lose their "specialness" of being experts. In short, a professor of 20 years does not want to see huge changes in her field of study, thus making her knowledge and skills obsolete. Wikipedia's mission counters this precisely - anyone and everyone can contribute to the body of knowledge and through self-regulation, the system works. For me, it is very much like Conway's Game of Life, with a simple set of guidelines emergent principles produce miraculous results.

Small Press
I am advocate for small press. Small presses are publishers with the "desire to help disseminate literature with only a small likely market". The Big Four book publishers include Simon & Schuster (a subsidiary of CBS Corporation), HarperCollins (a subsidiary of NewsCorp), Penguin Random House (a subsidiary of Bertelsmann and Pearson), and Hachette Livre. All, but Hachette Livre, are headquartered in New York, NY and two are subsidiaries of large news media organizations. What this means for us? As readers and consumers our choices are filtered through four megacorporations who dictate what should be part of the body of literature we have access too. I am staunchly against this system, even if literary agents and publishers are not (one example for the system can be found here/Jessica Faust). 99% of all published works are not on the New York Times Best Seller's List, so we are often only exposed to 1% of works being created. My argument is simply, that is it possible the other 99% might contribute to our culture? Is it possible?

Bringing it all together
My love of education, my admiration for Wikipedia and my belief in small press, leads me to being an editor on Wikipedia.

Aaron J. Lawler 21:13, 20 February 2017 (UTC)