User:Catherben/sandbox

Research Process
I have tentatively chosen 3 subjects that I am familiar with and hope to expand my knowledge on.

I've made sure that articles on each subject can be found both on Wikipedia and in the Encyclopedia Britannica. In fact I started my research on the Encyclopedia Britannica website because I was not familiar with this resource and didn't know what topics I could find in it. I searched many subjects before choosing a top five-the ones included in this assignment.

After choosing my top 5 topics I searched them on Wikipedia and began comparing the information found in both encyclopedias.

Then I narrowed my list down to 3 subjects due to time constraints.

Bisexuality
September 23rd, the day that this project was assigned, was Celebrate Bisexuality Day (also known as Bisexual Visibility Day or Bisexual Pride Day). I noticed a featured article on this day when I logged onto Wikipedia in my Reference I class. As a bisexual I was pleasantly surprised to learn that we had such a day and disappointed by the lack of celebration in my community. This inspired me to choose this topic.

Comparison
Wikipedia has a lot more information on this subject, not only in the main article on bisexuality but in others. The Encyclopedia Britannica only gives a brief definition of bisexuality and does not go into the history of the term or the issues that the bisexual community face like erasure or biphobia (similar but different from homophobia) like Wikipedia does. Wikipedia also acknowledges that there are different definitions of bisexuality and that some of them intersect with pansexuality. Wikipedia is definitely the more informative source in this case.

Science Fiction
I chose this subject because I am a writer and I mainly read and write stories that fit into the science fiction genre. I grew up watching Star Wars and X-Files and reading Henry Kuttner and Douglas Adams. I've been writing science fiction stories since at least the fifth grade.

Comparison
The Encyclopedia Britannica goes into much more detail on this subject, as does Wikipedia. Both articles are lengthy and cover a lot of information. The Encyclopedia Britannica article focuses on the themes found in science fiction while the Wikipedia article focuses on science fiction in different cultures as well as related genres. Both articles discuss the history of the genre.

At this point I'm finding Wikipedia a lot easier to navigate than the Britannica website. This may be due to the fact that I am much more familiar with Wikipedia. However it is definitely easier to scroll through lengthy articles on Wikipedia and said articles load much faster than those on the Encyclopedia Britannica website.

Both articles are insightful and well written.

Feminism
I consider myself a feminist and hope to learn more about the history of the movement and it's different branches by reading Wikipedia articles and Encyclopedia articles on this subject. The feminist movement tackles many issues in different parts of the world in different ways throughout many decades and there's still a lot for me to learn about it.

Comparison
Once again both articles are very lengthy. They both discuss feminist theory and the history and origins of the movement as well as the backlash it caused. Wikipedia discusses feminist culture and has links to articles discussing the different branches of feminism such as radical feminism and lipstick feminism.

Conclusion
Most of the information on many subjects can be found on both sites but some information can only be found on one of the two therefor it is more effective to consult multiple sites. Wikipedia is much more accessible and easier to navigate but that doesn't necessarily mean that the content is better.

Assignment II
I've chosen the topic of bisexuality for this assignment. I will be comparing the Wikipedia article on bisexuality to the Encyclopedia Britannica article on the same subject.

Wikipedia
The Wikipedia article on bisexuality is extensive and covers many topics such as definitions, identities and behaviors associated with the label, it’s place on the Kinsey scale, it’s prevalence, studies and theories on bisexuality, the history of term in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, the bisexual symbol and flag, the social status of bisexuals, media representation of and stereotypes about bisexuals, and bisexuality in other species.

The article starts off with a binarist definition of bisexuality that excludes non-binary individuals, but later acknowledges that other more inclusive definitions exist. Wikipedia notes that the terms bisexuality and pansexuality are interchangeable and that they are both inclusive towards people have gender identities other than male or female.

The entry on bisexuality has had 2,511 distinct authors since a user called 200.191.188.xxx first created the page on November 12th 2001. The page's creator has been blocked indefinitely since October 8th 2005 for hacking the website.

One user, Flyer22 has edited the page 227 times since 2007. They're an American screenwriter who claim to have credentials in the fields of sociology and psychology and sexuality. They do not provide specific details on where they've studied, presumably for privacy reasons. They have received multiple Barnstar Awards. These awards are given to Wikipedia contributors who significantly improve articles.

Another user, James Cantor is a psychologist and sex researcher from the University of Toronto who writes on Wikipedia because he enjoys the interactions of researchers and people who experience life as members of the LGBT community. He does his work on Wikipedia in his spare time and it is not associated with the University of Toronto. He has also been awarded many Barnstar Awards.

The Wikipedia article lists 105 references, most of which were published in the past 5 years but a few date back to the 1990's and 1980's. at the end of the article there are links to sources on the topics of bisexuality in Ancient Greece and Rome, bisexuality in different cultures, and bisexuality in general for further reading.

Encyclopedia Britannica
The article on bisexuality is very short. In fact it is only four sentences long. The first two sentences provide a binarist definition of the sexual orientation that excludes non-binary individuals. The rest of the article informs us that the majority of bisexuals engage in bisexual activity and that more people are coming out as bisexuals now that the stigma against homosexuality has begun to be challenged.

The Encyclopedia Britannica website lists its entire editing staff but not the individuals who worked on the article. The article's history is unavailable and there is no bibliography. A few related articles are linked but they are focused on homosexual identities and only mention bisexuality without discussing it.

Comparison
The Wikipedia article gives much more information and branches out into subtopics unlike the Encyclopedia Britannica article which is alarmingly short. The Encyclopedia Britannica article is so short that it doesn’t have any section headings. They do have one topic in common: the definition of bisexuality.

Both articles define it as an attraction to both men and women, but the Wikipedia article also mentions attraction to people of all gender identities-including but not limited to men, women, bigender people, and agenderpeople-as well as attraction to intersex people. Wikipedia also provides a quote from bisexual activist Robyn Ochs who defines the orientation as "the potential to be attracted—romantically and/or sexually—to people of more than one sex and/or gender, not necessarily at the same time, not necessarily in the same way, and not necessarily to the same degree."

The articles claim that the term bisexuality was coined in two different centuries. Wikipedia states that the word was created in the nineteenth century but the Encyclopedia Britannica says it was first used in the late twentieth century.

Conclusion
In my opinion as a bisexual woman who is active int the bisexual community, it's inexcusable that both articles used a binarist definition of bisexuality that excludes non-binary identities. The bisexual community and the transgender community have historically been allies. Bisexuals do in fact date and look out for trans* people, whether they're a man, woman, bigender, agender, genderfluid or genderqueer.

That being said, the Wikipedia article was the best of the two. It very briefly acknowledged the existence of non-binary people and contained the most information overall. It also has the most contributors and sources.

The Encyclopedia Britannica article lacked information and depth. There's no way to see who has edited the article, the article's history, or the sources used to write it.