Linda's Blogspot

Below WikiExplorers are  learning about AI and Wikipedia; they are using ChatGPT as a research and editing assistant to study an existing Wikipedia article about Johanna Fernández and identify ways to improve it during a meetup at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem.  A WikiExplorers Research Mission: Improving the Johanna Fernández Wikipedia Article A ChatGPT + Wikipedia Learning Adventure at the Schomburg Center Ages 8–10 Mission Location: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Harlem Welcome, WikiExplorers! Ms. Rivers gathered the young researchers around a table filled with books, notebooks, tablets, and curiosity. "Today," she said, "you are not just readers of Wikipedia. You are becoming Wikipedia investigators." The children looked excited. "A WikiExplorers Research Mission: mission is to explore an existing Wikipedia article about historian Johanna Fernández and discover how we can help make it better." "Are w...

Beyond the Blank Page: How AI Can Help Wikipedians Improve Existing Articles One of the greatest misconceptions about contributing to Wikipedia is that editing always begins with creating a brand-new article. In reality, some of the most valuable contributions come from expanding, refining, and strengthening articles that already exist. Recently, I explored the Wikipedia article about historian Johanna Fernández. The article was solid and well-sourced, but like many biographies, it revealed opportunities for thoughtful expansion. Looking at an article with fresh eyes raises an important question: How do experienced Wikipedians recognize what is missing? This is where artificial intelligence can become a valuable learning partner. AI as an Editorial Assistant Generative AI tools like ChatGPT should not be viewed as automatic Wikipedia editors. They cannot determine what belongs in Wikipedia simply because they can write well. Every statement added to Wikipedia must be supported by relia...

An example of how Generative Ai can be helpful in adding content to a Wikipedia article.  I asked ChatGPT if Johanna  Fernandez had a Wikipedia article.   Does she have a Wikipedia article? Yes. The historian Johanna Fernández has an English Wikipedia biography.  Wikipedia Her article covers: Her career as a historian and professor at Baruch College/CUNY. Her award-winning book, The Young Lords: A Radical History. Her research on the Young Lords. Her activism, including work related to Mumia Abu-Jamal and prison abolition. Her role in recovering the NYPD's historic Handschu surveillance files through a Freedom of Information lawsuit.  Wikipedia   Given your work with Wikipedia I and your interest in New York history and social movements, her article is a strong example of a well-sourced biography that connects scholarship, activism, and the history of the Young Lords. If you're interested, I can also evaluate the article from a Wikipedian's perspective...

From Paris Cafés to Artificial Intelligence: The Continuing Struggle to Define Truth, Meaning, and Memory Throughout history, moments of technological and cultural transformation have forced humanity to ask profound questions: Who creates knowledge? Who decides what is true? Whose voices are preserved, and whose stories disappear? Today, the rise of artificial intelligence has brought these questions into sharp focus. Generative AI systems can summarize vast amounts of information, create text and images, translate languages, and assist with research. Yet behind these remarkable abilities lies an ancient human challenge: determining what knowledge can be trusted and what deserves to be remembered. Interestingly, these debates echo intellectual movements that emerged in Paris during the twentieth century. Long before artificial intelligence transformed the way people accessed information, Paris became a center for philosophical, literary, and cultural movements that questioned tradition...

"God Is Dead" and Négritude: Two Very Different Revolutions in Paris During the twentieth century, Paris was home to some of the most influential intellectual movements in modern history. Among them were the philosophical currents inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's declaration that "God is dead" and the literary and political movement known as Négritude. Although these movements emerged from different experiences and pursued different goals, they shared a common setting and wrestled with many of the same questions about identity, freedom, and the future of humanity. Different Origins The "God is dead" idea arose from a European crisis of belief. Nietzsche argued that traditional Christianity no longer provided a universally accepted foundation for morality and meaning. Later French philosophers, including Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, explored how people could live responsibly in a world where religious certainty had weakened. Négritude, by contras...

"God Is Dead": Paris, Existentialism, and the Search for Meaning Few philosophical statements have generated as much discussion as Friedrich Nietzsche's declaration that "God is dead." Written in the late nineteenth century, the phrase was not a literal claim about the death of God. Instead, Nietzsche argued that Western society had reached a turning point. Scientific progress, industrialization, and the decline of religious authority had weakened the shared beliefs that had guided European civilization for centuries. Although Nietzsche was German and never lived in Paris, his ideas found fertile ground in the French capital. After the devastation of two world wars, Paris became one of the world's leading centers for philosophical debate. Writers, artists, and students gathered in the cafés of the Left Bank to ask difficult questions: If traditional religious certainty no longer shaped society, how should people live? Where does morality come from? How do in...