Jimmy Wales, any way you look at it, is a technological and encyclopedic genius. Through his ideals of self-expression, and his experience in the stuffy world of academia Wales seems to be the perfect creator of such a controversial and yet reliable information site. The fact that Wales spent so many years and so much energy on his own education allows him the best insight into research gathering techniques, and an inside look to the lack of readily available, free information to the public.
Wales was able to create a world-wide revolution in the age old argument of "your truth or mine". Since the dawn of time, people have been arguing over everything and every fact that every came into existence. Wikipedia's self-editing function is both helpful and devastating to the quality of information found on the site. The fact that any person can correct, or change, anything in any article on the site is great when a user comes across an error in an entry, or is able to add useful information to a previously created article. The opposite is also true; any user can say anything they want, be it true or false, about any subject discussed on the site.
With these facts in mind, I have always felt slightly uneasy about relying on the information provided in Wikipedia articles. When at first researching a subject, I tend to veer away from Wikipedia articles because I have am warry of the source of the information. I do find, however, that many articles, or ideas presented in some articles, lend themselves to further research efforts in a more academic area. The main aspect of Wikipedia that makes me distrust its information is the fact that people, unfortunately, are opinionated, and many times, underinformed,this alone leads to petty wars over the internet, and can interfere with any sort of accurate information gathering.
Jimmy Wales created a new way of life for the current generation, and has forever changed the way in which people view encyclopedias and their accuracy.
What I found interesting was just how often the database is checked for errors and some of the infighting that occurs from any corrections.
ReplyDeleteI think I had always assumed that incorrect information just set on the site until some other version was challenged. I did not know it was checked so frequently.
I definitely agree with you about relying on Wikipedia as the sole source of information. I like to think of it as a jumping off point for further research. I'm sure Wikipedia makes sure that even the basic information about a topic is correct. I feel that if the administrators and editors couldn't do that, then Wikipedia would have been gone a long time ago.
ReplyDelete