FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

UIS faculty member invited to join editorial staff of major online publication.

SPRINGFIELD –Raymond Schroeder, director of the Office of Technology-Enhanced Learning and professor emeritus of Communication at the University of Illinois at Springfield, has been invited to become an editor at Citizendium, a new initiative of Wikipedia, the online, editable encyclopedia.

Under the new effort, which Wikipedia founder Larry Sanger described as a "progressive fork" of the existing encyclopedia, volunteer editors with expertise in a field will monitor posted articles to help ensure their accuracy.

Schroeder has asked for an editorial assignment in educational technology. "I am hopeful that my work in this area will be useful," he said. "In that role I may be able to encourage and assist faculty members interested in publishing articles in such areas as online learning, Web 2.0, or technologies to enhance and enable access to learning.

"This is a fascinating project to be involved with," noted UIS Provost Harry Berman. "I am particularly interested in the idea that the content will be written from a 'neutral point of view.'"

Schroeder said that Citizendium will begin with all of the (million plus) articles currently in Wikipedia and will work in much the same way, except for the additional expert oversight.

Background information about Citizendium is available at http://citizendium.org/.

For more information, contact Ray Schroeder at 217 206-7531.