Yes, obviously Wikipedia is amazing as perhaps the world’s largest/vastest open education resource. There is so much more to it than the articles, and it’s entire infrastructure is used in creative, and sometimes fun ways.
Previously we shared Six Degrees of Wikipedia, providing a game-like experience meant to appreciate its interconnectedness in trying to find articles that are more than six links apart.
I found another such thing that challenges you to connect disparate Wikipedia articles. Wikipedia Speedruns ask you, as quickly as possible, to get from one article to another only by following links.
The rules of this game are simple. You’ll be given a starting Wikipedia article and an ending Wikipedia article. Your goal is to navigate from the starting article to the ending article using only the article links.
Some other things to keep in mind:
- Any link (outside the navigation bar at the top) is fair game.
- You can’t use the browser find tool.
- Reloading the page or clicking the browser back button will end your run.
It’s quite challenging. Walking through the tutorial indicates you need a strategy to run to general topics and then get more specific.
My first run was to get from Middle Ages to Adverb (see how results can be shared)
via a link path of
Middle Ages,Cameo (carving),Cameo appearance,Oxford English Dictionary,English phrasal verbs,Traditional grammar,Grammar,Subject–verb–object word order,Adjective,Linguistics,Syntax,Categorial grammar,Semantic ambiguity,Word,Reflexive verb,Verb,Adverb
Are you game to run across Wikipedia? You need a Wikipedia account to login, and you can try the ones at the main Wikipedia Speed Runs, and test your running shoes.
For fun, I set up a “private lobby” I will share access to here in OEG Connect
Join my Wikispeedruns lobby
https://wikispeedruns.com/lobby/11419
Passcode: 185932
Where the first challenge asks you to get from a specific Creative Commons license to a Canadian past time
Run, Wiki, Run!