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Originally Posted by Smalls
First off, knowing you are a scientist, I am amazed you would suggest citing Wikipedia in even a semi-scientific study.
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You missed the point. I am suggesting using Wikipedia as a public outreach and educational too to improve understanding. Colleagues and I began doing this years ago, realizing that thousands of desperate students every day google up math and physics topics and learn more from Wikipedia than from their textbooks. You can see the usage stats show many more hits on weekdays than weekends and many more hits during the spring and fall semesters, and even more hits at the time in a semester when a subject is typically taught. See the hit stats on "Chain Rule" (a method of differentiation taught in Calculus).
Improving the Wikipedia article on saltwater intrusion would impact thousands of readers each year and give you something to cite rather than repeating everything when it comes up again next year rather than having to create a single use answer for a limited SaltyCajun audience.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Smalls
Second, I don't believe it makes a difference in what we, as scientists, have to say, when it is obvious that the public thinks that they know what is best based on a fish population. Very few people here, in my opinion, based on what I have read, understand that that lake is far more than fish. That the marsh is far more than fish. Just because a Marsh is green does not mean it is healthy. I could explain all of this for the thousandth time on this board, and it would make no difference, because minds are made up. The weirs are bad. There is no changing that mindset when it is solely based on fish.
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Wikipedia is a much louder and effective microphone than SaltyCajun, and many laymen turn to it to get the scoop on many topics. Improving the saltwater intrusion and Calcasieu Lake articles, linking them to each other and to other related articles (shrimp, crabs, specks, redfish, Cameron Parish, marsh, wetlends, etc.), and visiting them regularly to reverse the introduction of bad info can be a powerful tool in the long term improvement in the perspective of the general public. Links from high traffic wiki pages pay the biggest dividends by increasing readership.