Wikipedia - a very interesting yet sore subject for some. First, I'd like to start off saying that it's super interesting that we've decided to "study" Wikipedia this week because in another class, we also discussed the controversial nature of this amazing/horrible encyclopedia (depending on your vantage point) of this reference.
Personally, I love wikipedia. It IS such a great reference and it is always a great starting page to being research on a certain topic. Wikipedia has many embedded links and cross-references in its articles, and that can for sure significantly aid in conducting research of writing an English paper. It is interesting to see how many people actually use Wikipedia and how it was first created (an article that I read in my other class). Some interesting ideas to ponder is that this is the ultimate layman's reference - there's no "pompous" writing involved; very democratic! However, who is to say that everything written in Wikipedia's articles are at least semi-correct?! Well, the answer to that question, is very simple: YOU! There are over a million entries in Wikipedia whereas Enclyclopedia Britannica only has its entries in the thousands! There are approximately 1,600 new members to Wikipedia every month (if I remember my information correctly). That's a whole lot of people reading/cross checking Wikipedia! It is up to the public to decided what is "right" (which kind of goes along with the "author function" or Bartes' idea of the author's death - although Wikipedia does not name its authors for the articles).
Addionally, high profile articles on Wikipedia are constantly being watched for vandals. Example: George W. Bush's article - VERY VERY VERY VERY heavily "guarded" by Wikipedia. Similarly, Wikipedia now allows no article corrections to go unseen by the public - the previous "deletions" are also shown, but just in a seperate box saying that they were omitted.
Lastly - a Polish Wikipedian stated that Wikipedia is just like the internet. But Wikipedia is better because people are constantly adding and revising articles to have the most up-to-date database in the world that is AT LEAST kept in check!
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Wikipedia is pretty cool! It does serve as a great resource for understanding the general idea of a certain subject. I believe it is mostly factual, but never knowing for sure, as in 100%, is dissatisfying. I am glad that Wikipedia is working to be more accurate!
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