[jsfg_cinti] Re: Tech Note: Online access to Encyclopedia Brittanica

Dear Michele,

Actually I am familiar with the idea behind Wikipedia.
 I have used Wikipedia since its founding and I used
its predecessor, the Bomis Nupedia, before it.  And it
may be the only online source of information about
certain esoteric topics and a lot of pop culture.  But
that doesn't mean that it should be considered a
reliable general reference source.

Don't get me wrong, I think that Jimmy Wales and Larry
Sanger have done a great job in setting up Wikipedia. 
It is a great idea.  And in an ideal world it would be
the best encyclopedia available because it would tap
the collective knowledge of all mankind. (Or at least
those who have access to the Internet.)

But we do not live in an ideal world.  People are
subject to personal bias and suffer from imperfect
knowledge (even those who are expert in a particular
field of knowledge).  I believe that such human
imperfections make a formal peer review and editorial
process essential for the creation of accurate and
reliable reference works.  It is because Wikipedia
does not have such a mechanism that I urge caution in
its use.

Wikipedia acknowledges this problem openly as shown by
the following quote from the Wikipedia website:

"There has been controversy over Wikipedia's
reliability and accuracy, with the site receiving
criticism for its susceptibility to vandalism, uneven
quality and inconsistency, systemic bias, and
preference for consensus or popularity over
credentials. Information is sometimes unconfirmed and
questionable, lacking proper sources that, in the eyes
of most Wikipedians, is necessary for an article to be
considered "high quality"."
Source URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia

Also I think you may have a misunderstanding of the
process used for the creation and alteration of
Wikipedia articles.  Wikipedia has no significant
staff to review and "verify" the hundreds of thousands
of articles that comprise the English language version
of Wikipedia (not to mention the fact that Wikipedia
is available in 171+ languages).  This is shown by the
following quote from the Wikimedia website (Wikimedia
is the organization that operates Wikipedia and its
related websites):

"The Wikimedia Foundation currently has five full-time
employees."
Source URL:
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Current_staff

While only "registered users" can create new articles,
anyone may edit an article and those changes are
immediately part of Wikipedia and are displayed to the
world as described in the following quote from
Wikipedia:

"Almost all visitors may edit Wikipedia's content ...
Changes made to pages are instantly displayed."
Source URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia

And anyone can write on any subject.  Authorship of
articles is not restricted to subject matter experts
as shown by this quote from Wikipedia:

"The authors of articles need not have any expertise
or qualifications in the subjects that they edit..."
Source URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia

Further there are no editors to catch errors of fact
or even grammar as illustrated by this quote from
Wikipedia:

"Its [Wikipedia's] articles are not controlled or
copyrighted by any particular user or editorial group;
decisions on the content and editorial policies of
Wikipedia are instead made largely through consensus
decision-making and, occasionally, by vote."
Source URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia

There are no disclaimers such as you describe for
"items that have not been verified yet" since, as we
discussed above, there is no formal verification
process.  There are occasional  disclaimers for IP
(Intellectual Property) issues (such as a photo of
uncertain provenance) or disputes about "Neutrality"
(such as political bias).  Even those disclaimers are
relatively rare.

But there is this General Disclaimer as made by
Wikipedia:

"WIKIPEDIA MAKES NO GUARANTEE OF VALIDITY - Wikipedia
is an online open-content collaborative encyclopedia,
that is, a voluntary association of individuals and
groups who are developing a common resource of human
knowledge. The structure of the project allows anyone
with an Internet connection and World Wide Web browser
to alter its content. Please be advised that nothing
found here has necessarily been reviewed by
professionals with the expertise required to provide
you with complete, accurate or reliable information."
Source URL:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:General_disclaimer

I hope you can see from these quotes my reasons for
feeling that Wikipedia is not a reliable source of
information.

But there is hope for the future.  Larry Sanger
(Wikipedia's co-founder) has commenced a new project
called "The Citizendium" that will be based on
Wikipedia and implement a peer review and editorial
process to improve the accuracy and reliability of the
information.  I look forward to that prospect.  An
article describing this effort may be found at URL:

http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb061030-1.shtml

The actual Citizendium website is at URL:

http://www.citizendium.org/

In the meantime, I plan to continue using Encyclopedia
Brittanica as my main source for general reference
material.  I suggest that you do too.

Have a great day!

Regards,
Lance



--- "Grinoch, Michele" <Michele.Grinoch@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

> Lance,
>
> The idea behind Wikipedia is that it provides
> information about a wide variety of things, and
> is especially useful regarding subjects that are
> not included in traditional resources such as
> the Encyclopedia Brittanica.
> 
> While users are invited to make additions to
> the repository, these submissions are posted
> on a provisional basis until they can be
> reviewed and verified by the Wikipedia staff.
> 
> It is my understanding that there is a disclaimer
> for items that have not been verified yet, so
> reasonable caution is advisable when consulting
> those.
> 
> Michele Grinoch
> (513) 287-4353
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 




 
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