You have a research paper due.
You need some information.
Should you use Wikipedia?
Probably not…
…and here is why.
Wikipedia:
a
guide for students
What it is, what it does, and how it should be used as told in its own words…
…mostly.
So…what is Wikipedia?
“Wikipedia is
a free, multilingual, open content encyclopedia project …it is currently the
largest, fastest-growing, and most
popular general reference work on the Internet.”
From: “Wikipedia,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Sounds good...
…so what’s the problem?
When you write a formal paper the information that you use must meet certain criteria.
The information must be:
Accurate
Authoritative
Objective
Current
Adapted from: Kapoun,
Jim. “Teaching Undergrads WEB Evaluation:
A Guide for Library Instruction. C
& RL News. July/August 1998, Vol. 59, No. 7. Available online http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/
There are known problems with Wikipedia regarding all of these criteria.
Accuracy
From the Wikipedia
entry, “Criticism of Wikipedia.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
“Wikipedia
contains no
formal peer review process for
fact-checking, and due to the lack of requiring qualifications to edit
any article, the contributors themselves may not be well-versed in the
topics they write about.”
The entry goes on to
note that authors frequently use
dubious sources such
as blogs and personal web pages.
“Wikipedia
acknowledges that it should
not be used as
a primary source for serious research.”
Authority
“Wikipedia
is written collaboratively by volunteers from all around the world.
Since its creation in 2001…[authors] do not need specialized
qualifications to contribute,
since their primary role is to write articles that cover existing knowledge;
this means that people of all ages and cultural and social backgrounds
can write Wikipedia articles.”
From: “Wikipedia,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Larry Sanger, co-founder
of Wikipedia, notes: “The world needs something in addition to Wikipedia. The
world needs a better, more reliable
free encyclopedia.
..There is little chance that Wikipedia is going to change the policies
that I think are responsible for its
lack of authoritativeness.”
Quoted in:
Havenstein, Heather. “Wikipedia Founder Rejects His ‘Ignore All Rules' Mantra in
New Online Project.” Computerworld. April 2, 2007, 13.
Objectivity
From the Wikipedia
entry, “Criticism of Wikipedia.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Bias
in coverage – “Wikipedia
has been accused of systemic bias,
a tendency to cover topics in a detail disproportionate to their importance.
As an example, Stephen
Colbert once mock-praised
Wikipedia for having a "longer entry on 'lightsabers' than it does
on the 'printing press.'"
Exposure
to vandals – “Some
users may have axes to grind on a particular
subject, or
may simply enjoy disrupting Wikipedia. There have also been instances
of users deliberately inserting false information into Wikipedia in
order to test the system and demonstrate its alleged unreliability.”
Exposure to political operatives and advocates – “While Wikipedia policy requires articles to have a neutral point of view, it is not immune from attempts by outsiders (or insiders) with an agenda to place a spin on articles. In January 2006 it was revealed that several staffers of members of the U.S. House of Representatives had embarked on a campaign to cleanse their respective bosses' biographies on Wikipedia, as well as inserting negative remarks on political opponents.”
Currency
From the Wikipedia
entry, “Criticism of Wikipedia.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
“… older articles tend to be more comprehensive and balanced, while newer articles more frequently contain significant misinformation, unencyclopedic content, or vandalism. Users need to be aware of this to obtain valid information and avoid misinformation that has been recently added and not yet removed.”
Recent Wikipedia controversies that have been
in the news include:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Instances of character defamation…
…like the John Seigenthaler
incident.
“… a user edited
a biographical article on John Seigenthaler Sr. so that it contained several
false and defamatory statements.
The inaccurate claims went unnoticed between May and September 2005
when they were discovered by Victor S. Johnson, Jr., a friend of Seigenthaler.”
The article suggested
that Seigenthalter was implicated in the assassinations of John and
Robert F. Kennedy. In reality, Seigenthalter was a close family friend
and a pallbearer at RFK’s funeral.
There have been problems with fact checking…
…like the Larry King
incident.
“Columnist Sujay Kumar
recently commented: ‘While Wikipedia says that most vandal edits are
removed within five minutes, some falsities have managed to go unnoticed. An outlandishly fake entry about
Larry King's uncontrollable flatulence was
posted for a month.’"
Then there is the whole
“Wikiality” issue…
…like the Stephen Colbert/African
elephant incident.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Comedian, Stephen Colbert
first used the term “Wikiality” on “The Word” segment of his
popular late-night show, “The Colbert Report,” July 31, 2006. He
defined as the concept as one which describes how “together we can
create a reality that we all agree on — the reality we just agreed
on.”
He
explained that on Wikipedia “any
user can change any entry, and if enough
users agree with them, it becomes true.”
“He also told his viewers
to go onto Wikipedia, in the article elephants, and to edit it so that
it would say: ‘Elephant population in Africa has tripled over the
past six months.’ The suggestion resulted in numerous incorrect changes
to Wikipedia articles related to elephants and Africa. The
articles have since been locked to
prevent further changes.”
Closing thoughts from Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales
In an interview, Wales noted that he gets several email messages a week from students
who complain that Wikipedia
has gotten them into “academic hot water.”
“They say, ‘Please help me. I got an F on my paper because I cited Wikipedia and the information turned out to be wrong.’”
Wales stated that he has no sympathy for the plight of these students.
“For God sake, you’re
in college; don’t use the encyclopedia.”
Young,
Jeffrey R., “Wikipedia Founder Discourages Academic Use of His Creation.
” The Chronicle of Higher Education
Wired Campus, June 12, 2006.
Available at http://chronicle.com/
The
End1
1. “The End” Wikipedia.
Available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
“The
End” is a common phrase used at
the end of some works, particularly books, and it may refer to: 1
Literature; 2
Music ; 2.1
Songs; 2.2
Albums; 2.3
Performers; 2.4
Labels; 3
Film; 4
Television; 5
Other; 6
See also.
Credits and Copyright Information
Produced
by
The Paul Robeson
Library
Rutgers University Libraries
Rutgers – The State University of New Jersey
Software
and graphics:
John Gibson
jgibson@camden.rutgers.edu
From: “John Gibson.”
Wikipedia.
Available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
John
Gibson is a common name, shared by:
John Gibson (sculptor) (1790-1866), British sculptor
John Gibson (architect) (1817-1892), British architect
John Gibson (Indiana), Territorial Secretary of Indiana Territory
John Gibson (media host), former host of cable TV show on Fox News Channel
John Gibson (programmer), author of Stonkers and other games
John Gibson (police officer), U.S. Capitol police officer killed in the line of duty 1998
John Gibson (motorcycle racer), 1956 Daytona 200 winner
John Gibson (ice hockey b. 1959), Canadian and ex-NHL hockey player
John Gibson (hockey), minor-pro hockey player and head coach
John Gibson (composer), Irish composer
John Gibson (Philadelphia), Mayor of Philadelphia, 1771-1773
Sir John Morison Gibson, Attorney-General and Lieutenant Governor of Ontario
John C. L. Gibson, linguist and Bible scholar
John C. Gibson (born 1934), American Republican politician from New Jersey
John Douglas Gibson (c.1925-1984), Australian amateur ornithologist
John S. Gibson (1893-1960), U.S. Representative from Georgia
John S. Gibson, Jr., Los Angeles City Councilman, 1981-1982
Johnny Gibson (John Anthony Gibson), American 400 meter hurdles world record holder
Sir John Gibson (c.1637–1717), founder of the Gloucestershire Regiment and Member of Parliament for Portsmouth, 1696–1698 and 1702
None of
these entries are our John Gibson.
Educational
content: Vibiana
Bowman
bowman@camden.rutgers.edu
There
is no Wikipedia entry for Vibiana Bowman
…yet!
All images
used are in the public domain unless otherwise noted.
Music:
Excerpts form “The William Tell Overture” by Rossini -
Licensed through Sounddogs.com.