Double Journal Entry 8

Due Thursday Midnight Read Wikipedia and answer the following questions on your blog a. What is Wikipedia?  b. How would you answer the question posed in this piece “How reliable can a source be when anyone can edit it?”?  c. Who do the creators of Wikipedia place their trust in when it comes to weeding out misinformation?  d. Why did founder Larry Sanger leave Wikipedia?  e. What would abuse or vandalism look like on a Wikipedia page?  f. What do the statistics quoted in the third paragraph of this piece reveal?  g. Why do you think Wikipedia is so successful?  h. Why might Wikipedia’s creators not want to accept advertising?  i. How does Wikiscanner help increase the reliability of Wikipedia entries?

A: According to itself “Wikipedia is a multilingual, web-based encyclopedia project, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a nonprofit organization.”

B: In the beginning of Wikipedia I wouldn’t have trusted it but now I feel that it is for the most part trustworthy simply because those who care about a topic are more likely to make sure that the facts are correct.  I know several people who have made corrections to comic book character, rock band and video game topics. While these aren’t the most scholarly examples I believe the same would hold true for other topics.  Those who have a true interest in a topic will want to make sure the information is correct.

C: They place their trust in the wisdom of crowds.

D:  He felt that experts should be given more authority over the information rather than anyone.

E:  Abuse or vandalism could be anything from misinformation to slanderous statements.  It could be posting false information and claiming to be from another source such as a government or business.  Postings that double as advertisements could also be a form of abuse.

F:  How widespread and universal it is.  How much information it covers and how often it is used.

G:  It is easy to read and understand.  It also links to related topics and gives sources and additional outside articles for further reading.

H:  Advertisers could lessen its trustworthiness, lead people to fear bias or misinformation.  If they allowed advertising it would lose credibility.

I:  You can track who is posting to see if they are reliable or have ulterior motives for posting the information that they did.