Love, Hate, and Wikipedia
Posted by Christopher Markman
I've got a bone to pick with a recent article I read feature on Library stuff.
It's pretty simple. Wikipedia, love it or hate it, is not a monolithic entity. It's diverse by definition. That's the point. Information quality lies on a spectrum. Yes, there are vandals, yes, you can do silly things like cite an edit you yourself made. There are inherent flaws...
BUT
Making blanket statements like "[Wikipedia] ultimately lessens the quality of whatever you were trying to do" ignores the very nature of Wikipedia itself.
There are in fact some very high quality articles on Wikipedia. Not all of them. Some. But you'll only be able to say that through direct comparison with other sources.
Don't confuse Wikipedia with lazy academics. Go ahead and start your search with Wikipedia. Do the work, come back and make it better!
Posted: February 15, 2009 2:17 pm | 1 comment
Tags: digital culture, research, Wikipedia