Wikipedia is the world’s foremost volunteer driven web based encyclopedia. It is the first tool of its kind to stray from expert driven content. Casual readers enjoy Wikipedia for its ease of use and depth of information. The same can’t be said of the academic community.
Robert McHenry (former editor of Encyclopedia Brittanica) had this to say about Wikipedia:
“The user who visits Wikipedia to learn about some subject, to confirm some matter of fact, is rather in the position of a visitor to a public restroom. It may be obviously dirty, so that he knows to exercise great care, or it may seem fairly clean, so that he may be lulled into a false sense of security. What he certainly does not know is who has used the facilities before him.”
Sheesh!
The Wikipedia page of political figure John Seigenthaler had incorrect information printed for 4 months. Several corporations and government entities have covertly altered information on their Wikipedia pages.
To counter this swarm of negativity Wikipedia protects itself in 2 ways.
- Wikipedia makes no guarantee of content validity.
- Wikipedia deploys a relentless editing policy. Humans and bots scour the site on a regular basis to control quality.
At a high level Wikipedia is a wonderful web site full of information. I’ve found myself lost on it for hours on end. The engrossing nature of the site isn’t in question today though. The question is about Wikipedia’s accuracy and trustworthiness.
So what do you think?
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