I admit it. I never created an account on TikTok and hardly went there. See how uncool I am? But I know of it, and I find this “remix”, if you will of the interface totally inspiring. WikiTok offers a friendly and fun means to go deeper in Wikipedia
That link has a lot of detail, and to me what is interesting how quickly the “resource” emerged from the ideas shared in social media. There is even a nod to the role of Claude AI in the development of the site.
Okay, to entice you more, I did a little screen recording of a session - note how you can change language to see non-English versions of Wikipedia content.
But we are here (hopefully you are) to do an activity.
After looking at the image and short description of the first random article delivered, scroll down. Look at the next one.
Repeat step 2 several times.
Now scroll back up and ideally save a screenshot of the example that makes you most curious to learn more.
Follow the Read More… link to go directly to the full Wikipedia Article represented.
Explore, read a bit. Look to see if there are notes about information needed. How in depth is the article? Did you learn anything of interest? Copy the link for the article.
Now… use the Reply button below to share what you found. Upload the screenshot, include the link to the article. What did you get out of the article? What was it that made you decide to choose that article.
Also, having seen this, can you imagine some way to use this as an activity/assignment for the work you do?
The more you do and share here, the more we all gain from sharing.
I first was intrigued by the link for The Birdsville Races that are yearly in Queensland (where I was a few months ago for the OEGlobal24 conference). It’s been happening since 1882 and interesting that people come to a remote place for of all things… ! I had some memories back to my first visit Down Under – I was visiting a TAFE in Canberra and advised that a big unofficial holiday was happening - the running of the Melbourne Cup. I have not much interest in horse races but loved how it was some kind of major event. I placed a bet, and I recall my horse came in last.
But that’s not my pick, I was drawn to this one for reasons of me having studied Geology in undergrad and grad school
Just seeing the name “Formation” and a map, my geology radar kicked in. The linked Wikipedia article describes this geologic unit located in the Northern Patagonia region of Argentina as relatively not old (Miocene 21 to 17.5 million years young) and made of “pyroclastic deposits” which I know, because I studied them, are volcanic ash. It goes on with a lot of details and images on the fossils found.
The article has one of those notes that it “excessively on references to primary sources. Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources.” which is the thing that makes Wikipedia strong. It should be an invitation to help find and cite more references… but this is far out of my scope now!
That was my spin with WikiTok – maybe someone might share what they discover.
