Wikipedia:Wiki Ed/Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey/Languages in Peril (Spring)

The vast majority of human knowledge is stored not in books, or computers, or even Wikipedia, but rather in the minds of ordinary people the world around. In many cases, the languages in which this knowledge is encoded are spoken by as few as a dozen people, and will almost certainly be lost with the passing of these languages and their speakers. By some estimates, fully 90% or more of the world’s languages will have disappeared by the end of the century.

This course will employ a multidisciplinary approach to address the impending disappearance of the world’s linguistic and cultural patrimony, which is one of the greatest challenges facing mankind in the 21st century. The discussion of these general issues will be illustrated with case studies of endangered languages and the traditions that they represent: three from the Middle East, three from South Asia, and three from Africa.

We will address:

the importance of linguistic diversity, and the ways in which the cultural knowledge encoded within language shape our experiences of and perspectives on the world; issues of language policy and linguistic rights across local and global contexts; and the methodology and technology of documentary linguistics, and how it can be employed to document our disappearing linguistic and cultural patrimony. By the end of the semester, students will be familiar with value of “local” non-standard forms of language, and the critical threat to intellectual diversity posed by their disappearance, as well as the philosophical and other theoretical issues surrounding the topic of language endangerment. They will learn about the importance of traditionally orally-transmitted knowledge, both as witnesses to a specific tradition and more broadly within the context of human knowledge, and the importance of documenting these before the languages in which they are transmitted vanish.

Week 2
Welcome to your Wikipedia assignment's course timeline. This page guides you through the steps you'll need to complete for your Wikipedia assignment, with links to training modules and your classmates' work spaces.

Your course has been assigned a Wikipedia Expert. You can reach them through the Get Help button at the top of this page.

Resources:


 * Editing Wikipedia, pages 1–5
 * Evaluating Wikipedia

Create an account and join this course page, using the enrollment link your instructor sent you. (Because of Wikipedia's technical restraints, you may receive a message that you cannot create an account. To resolve this, please try again off campus or the next day.)

This week, everyone should have a Wikipedia account.

Week 4
Resource: Editing Wikipedia, page 6

Week 6
Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have questions using the Get Help button at the top of this page.

Resource: Editing Wikipedia, pages 7–9

Linguistics

Everyone has begun writing their article drafts.

Week 9
Guiding framework

Week 11
Every student has finished reviewing their assigned articles, making sure that every article has been reviewed.

You probably have some feedback from other students and possibly other Wikipedians. Consider their suggestions, decide whether it makes your work more accurate and complete, and edit your draft to make those changes.

Resources:


 * Editing Wikipedia, pages 12 and 14
 * Reach out to your Wikipedia Expert if you have any questions.

Week 12
Now's the time to revisit your text and refine your work. You may do more research and find missing information; rewrite the lead section to represent all major points; reorganize the text to communicate the information better; or add images and other media.

Continue to expand and improve your work, and format your article to match Wikipedia's tone and standards. Remember to contact your Wikipedia Expert at any time if you need further help!

Week 13
It's the final week to develop your article.


 * Read Editing Wikipedia page 15 to review a final check-list before completing your assignment.
 * Don't forget that you can ask for help from your Wikipedia Expert at any time!

Week 14
Everyone should have finished all of the work they'll do on Wikipedia, and be ready for grading.