User:Lowell42/Encyclopedic Knowledge

Throughout my life, I have spent a lot of time looking up stuff in the Encyclopedia. Britannica has been the gold standard, but there were also Compton's and a bunch of others. In each case, the editors hired those they felt most qualified to write articles on their appropriate subject. There were many volumes and many editions, and it was fun sometimes to compare different editions. At other times it was just aggravating.

In 2001, Wikipedia created an online encyclopedia based on a different, collaborative model. Everyone was given access to the editing process and an online record was kept of all the changes made. Inappropriate changes were quickly reversed and the whole project maintained by volunteers. Currently there are about 10 million articles in 260 languages, 2.6 million of those in English. The content is provided by some 75,000 volunteers. In November, Wikipedia was the fourth most popular place on the internet.

Since it is such a popular source, the reliability of Wikipedia is a significant concern. An article covers this subject and comes to the conclusion that generally the reliability is about on a par with other online encyclopedias, and that although some articles start out very biased and partisan, the editing and consensus process tends to lead to balanced and accurate coverage in time.

As an example of the Wikipedia editing process, I found a comprehensive and growing article covering the events surrounding Illinois Governor Rob Blagojevich. This article is labeled with a disclaimer "This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses." The article shows four tabs… on top is the article itself. Next is the "discussion" tab, which shows a freewheeling conversation about various topics in the article. The "edit this page" tab shows the actual page with all the hidden editing features showing up. This is where one would make the actual changes to the article. The "New Section" tab is for new material, and the "History" tab logs every change made since the article was first posted in December 2005.

Remember never to trust just a single source of information. But as a starting point for a research project, or for answers to practical or obscure question, Wikipedia answers generally are as good as those from a regular encyclopedia. They are much more timely, and not limited in size by the requirements of paper cost and book size. Also, they contain internet links to other resources to flesh out the search. Not a bad resource for the price!

The Wonderful World of Wikis

Last month we looked at the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, but it is not the only wiki out there. Although it is by far the largest, being one of the most frequently visited sites on the internet, there are many, many of others. An interesting example is the uncyclopedia, a parody of wikipedia billed as the contentless encyclopedia. No, it is not contentless, but perhaps the content is worse than useless. One of the late-breaking stories is about the tree that fell in the forest while nobody was there to hear it, and the ramifications of this event. Someone is having a lot of fun there.

The hallmark of all wikis is that visitors can add or edit content. The details vary a bit, but all wikis have instructions for how to do this. This makes them wonderful for collaborative activities.

A few months ago we got a new Prius. A wonderful car, but the beep while backing up drove us crazy. No instructions on how to turn it off were found in the manual. So we got on the internet. Toyota sites were of no help, but wikihow, which bills itself as the world's largest how-to manual, had detailed instructions which we applied very successfully. Someone had taken the time and effort to add this useful knowledge. Wikihow recently celebrated its 50,000th article. A true treasure trove of how-to information from many, many fields of knowledge. For example, it tells how to write a cinquain or diamante or other forms of poetry. If you want to learn something, check it out on WikiHow.

To find what is out there in the world of wikis, WikiIndex is a fascinating portal. By getting on the Wiki Tour Bus, I discovered the travelwiki, a site dedicated to a lot of travel information. I wished I had checked it out about China before we went last fall. The section on money is a treasure.

Take a look at the wonderful world of wikis. Who knows what you'll find? Georgia@ladybugbooks.com