a.
What is Wikipedia?
"Wikipedia
is a multilingual, Web-based encyclopedia project, operated by the
Wikimedia Foundation, a nonprofit organization" (Cohen, 2009).
b.
How would you answer the question posed in this piece “How reliable
can a source be when anyone can edit it?”?
A
source could be very reliable when anyone can edit it, only if the
person or persons editing the
information have
some type of knowledge, a degree, in the subject matter they are
discussing. Allowing anyone
to edit information allows for plenty of proof reading, people can
read over and edit information on Wikipedia based on their knowledge
and possibly help to increase validity of the information. However,
when anyone can edit information you do run the risk of false
information being added to the page.
c.
Who do the creators of Wikipedia place their trust in when it comes
to weeding out misinformation?
The
creators of Wikipedia place their trust in the "wisdom of
crowds." They feel that having many people view their site will
help weed out errors and vandalism quickly.
d.
Why did founder Larry Sanger leave Wikipedia?
"Mr.
Sanger left Wikipedia, believing that it should give more authority
to experts; he has since created
another
site, Citizendium that does just that" (Cohen, 2009).
e.
What would abuse or vandalism look like on a Wikipedia page?
Abuse
or vandalism on a Wikipedia page would look pretty normal at
first glance. One would need to look through all the text
on a Wikipedia page to see if there is misinformation on the
page. People can write any false information such as
quotes, foul language, or even through pictures.
f.
What do the statistics quoted in the third paragraph of this piece
reveal?
The
statistic reveal that there are about 8 million Wikipedia articles
and any number of those articles could contain false information.
With the lack of employees, who I am sure do not know the 280
languages that Wikipedia articles have, means that there are not
enough people with the ability to determine if the information on
Wikipedia is valid.
g.
Why do you think Wikipedia is so successful?
Wikipedia
is so successful, because Wikipedia is so accessible. For most people
they can browse through the internet faster than they can flip
through an encyclopedia. Wikipedia also provides a large amounts of
information on one topic. Wikipedia is easy to use and simple that is
why Wikipedia is successful.
h.
Why might Wikipedia’s creators not want to accept advertising?
Wikipedia
is already controversial. Wikipedia is under a lot of speculation as
to the truthfulness that the site provides, so I do not think the
creators want to muddy the waters by having advertisements on their
site. Because if Wikipedia allows for advertisements the advertising
companies might request the ability to edit certain information about
themselves to appear better. If Wikipedia allows advertising they run
the risk of being scrutinized even more about the information these
companies might be providing.
i.
How does Wikiscanner help increase the reliability of
Wikipedia entries
Wikiscanner allows
"...IP address of anonymous editors of the site to be easily
checked" (Cohen, 2009).
This prevents
government officials and businesses from editing Wikipedia entries
for their benefit.
Cohen, N. (2009, February 06). Wikipedia. The New York Times On the Web . Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/learning/teachers/featured_articles/20090206friday.html
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