In praise of Wikipedia

Wiki birthday to you

A celebration of an astonishing achievement, and a few worries

See article

Readers' comments

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Lear21

The hidden success of Wikipedia is the most underreported story of this decade. Forget Facebook, myspace, ebay and amazon. It is Wikipedia which enables mankind to use the internet in a noble manner.
I suggest that Mr. Jimmy Wales should be a candidate for either the Literature or Noble Peace Prize.

nino01

As a frequent user of wikipedia , I consider it the most positive tool to spread human knowledge.
Obviuosly you have to be aware that it could be biased , contain mistakes and inaccuracies or be flatly wrong.
However I prefer this "open world" than the nigthmare of informacion the Orwell way in his novel 1984.Which is what politicians and many academic figures would like.Not to mention the church (any denomination).

Richard46

In a time where any idiot can produce content and publish it to the world, the challenge for those seeking knowledge will be to know which source they can trust. It is all available at a click on Google. Hence this will be one of the most important elements of media literacy. Knowledge is serious and important - this is why ways have been developed in the course of history to ensure that knowledge can be trusted - at least temporarily. Since the enlightenment this validation happens mainly in peer groups of experts. If we should trust Wikipedia we should fully understand its editorial process. The Economist article is very thin on this. I can understand that there are good contributions in Wikipedia but you never know if the article that you are looking at has been produced by well intentioned amateur or by someone who has deep knowledge. Even in the first case it may read well. The internet freedom fighters around Jimmy Wales will probably not be the top experts in their fields. The "wisdom of the crowds has been a mirage" - does anybody believe that there is a sense of language and of rigorous thought embedded in the crowds? Wikipedia should have its place and it may be something nice to look into from time to time - but it should be understood and positioned as a non-trusted source, where you have no process of quality assurance other than the wisdom of unwise crowds.

thekohser

I wonder when the news media will figure out that the Wikimedia Foundation spends on program services only 41 cents of every dollar they scam from donors, which earns them ONE STAR (out of four!) from Charity Navigator in organizational efficiency. In fact, their KPMG audit discovered that it only takes about $2.5 million to keep the servers running, provide ample bandwidth, and staff a team of code developers to keep things running smoothly. Why, then, is the ask for $20 million?

I also wonder why the news media never thought to cover the 2009 story of how the Wikimedia Foundation needed extra office space, and as if by magic, they hand-picked Jimmy Wales' for-profit corporation to be their landlord, THEN obtained competitive bids, THEN asked Wales' for-profit company to match the average of the competitive bids.

I too wonder why the media don't seem to care that the 2010 market research study of past Wikimedia Foundation donors was awarded to the former employer of the WMF staffer running the project, without any competitive bidding whatsoever. And when the Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation was asked how much the project cost, the guy asking the question was banned from the online discussion.

little ike

Ditto to the comments of xydra. I avoided Wikipedia for years until, that is, I stumbled across an article about the 1942 battle of El Alamein. It was superb, better even then the fine account in Gerhard Weinberg's A World at War. Since then, I've used W with enthusiasm. Jimmy Wales: I'm writing a check today.

xydra

I'm a peer reviewer for some scientific journals and am a stinker for punctilious accuracy. I would not go to Wikipedia as a prime source. But as a place to start, it is incomparable. I feel that most contributors are trying hard, and all together they move me forward wiki-wiki, meaning "fast" in the Hawaiian language.

Xydra

No Mist

stiff and middle aged ???

Nonsense !!

is there any alternative to WP ? as such WP is the single most valuable human creation on planet. it is indispensable ... so much so that internet loses 90% of its importance if ever WP vanishes from the cyberworld.

think of the pre-WP days ... information on any subject other than computer languages was very hard to come by on the internet. and most of it was just selling pitch of various snake oils. we had google even then, but it turned up mostly junk, if you wanted quality information on any subject (other than computers of course). if you find it hard to believe, try to recall your searches for any medical condition in pre-WP days.

humanity desperately needs something like WP.

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