I get there, and everything’s black.
What happened? Where did everybody go? They explain everything to us if you try to search for any information in English (guess it’s time to take up that second language), and it’s quite a worthy cause:
Imagine a World
Without Free Knowledge
For more than a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia. Learn more.
I find this particularly interesting because just last night I was helping my 6th grade brother (who is joyfully staying with us for a while) with his English Essay – ‘How to Save Trees’. As a writer, my mom thought it would be a great idea for me to give it a look over. Thanks mom. It was literally the worse thing ever written. I have never seen writing so bad, and unlike here at work, I couldn’t just write it up to A+ standard (which I know is the grade I would get if I did write it for him). Oh no, I had to help him redo it.
Where to start? All the information in his essay was irrelevant. The bulk of the 400-wordcount requirement was set aside for a story about a boy who loved a tree, and how the tree was his friend and how they lived happily ever after. What? Then he proceeds to explain how we need trees for oxygen. Fair enough, but then he goes on to give this as a valid example: If there were no trees in Ohio, everybody would die. Umm, ok. Where was the part about reduce, reuse, recycle? I turn to my brother and say, ‘let’s try Google, I’m sure we’ll end up finding great information on Wikipedia…’
He then proceeds to tell me that he doesn’t like Wikipedia, because they are all liars. What? Why I asked? Just because they are. Ok. So in a world according to a 6th grader, maybe we don’t need the resource that much anyways (he SWEARS that YouTube is a much more credible source).
But, I don’t care what anybody says, I can’t live without my Wikipedia. It’s where I go when I want to randomly know why King Henry VIII really killed off Anne Boleyn. It’s also where I go for more serious stuff, like when I need information about a footballer for a press release (I’m still hopeless with sports) and I don’t think I can imagine a world without Wikipedia.
I might be a tad over dramatic, considering they will be back tomorrow, but I’ll miss you while you’re gone, even though I understand why you have to do it.
Where are you going to go for information today?
