Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2006-12-04/In the news

Two presentations of China
In a story first published in the International Herald Tribune (later reprinted in The New York Times and also covered in a blog by CBS News), Howard W. French exposes the varied coverage by different language versions of Wikipedia. "Chinese-language Wikipedia presents different view of history" compares the coverage of Mao Zedong, the Tiananmen Square massacre, the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, and notes that the Chinese version "sometimes reads as if it were approved by the censors themselves." The article speculates on how collaboration has resulted in a different worldview in Chinese than in English, and reviews the consensus process. The article also mentions that many of the articles in Baidu Baike (a collaborative encyclopedia hosted by major Chinese search engine Baidu), "appear to be copied directly from Wikipedia." The article received wide coverage with commentary from South Africa's Mail&Guardian and SlashDot.

Several Chinese Wikipedia contributors objected rather strongly to the premise of the article. They argued that the neutral point of view policy is taken seriously, and denied that "self-censorship" is taking place. One point made was that while French cited a debate over whether to emphasize death tolls in the Chinese Wikipedia article on Mao, some of the positive aspects of Mao's rule are equally omitted in that version.

Wikipedia blocked in Iran
The news of Wikipedia being blocked by Iran (see related story) was also covered by: the Persian Journal, The Sydney Morning Herald, and in an article published by National Council of Resistance of Iran's Foreign Affairs Committee.

Wales and Wikipedia history profiled in two major Newspapers
Jimmy Wales and Wikipedia history were profiled in two articles this week. The Chicago Sun-Times article focused on Wales's history as a trader on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. It also includes a short bio information on Wales.

Newsday profiled two internet pioneers: Jimmy Wales and Craig Newmark (founder of Craigslist). The article provides a history of Wikipedia and quotes Larry Sanger as saying, "Jimmy was a very, very hands-off manager, so he's taken credit for a lot of my work." The article also points out that what critics identify as one of Wikipedia's weakness, the use of amateurs, is also its strength because it provides the ability for Wikipedia to be updated quickly.

Seigenthaler repercussions
In an Editorial on the "anniversary" of Seigenthaler's report on finding misinformation about himself (see related story), the Yakima Herald-Republic advocates government oversight of potentially libelous statements made on the Internet. "The most frightening aspect is not that this happened to John Seigenthaler. It's that without congressional repair of a flawed federal act, this could happen to any of us." Ironically, The Dominion carried an article this week where Alexander M.C. Halavais purposely inserted various false information into Wikipedia articles. Halavais reported that he was surprised when "less than three hours after he posted them, all of his false facts had been deleted."

Philadelphia Indy covers Wikipedia Meet-up
Independent weekly paper, The Philadelphia City Paper covered the November 2nd Meetup in Philadelphia. The article highlights the different backgrounds of the Wikipedians including: two Drexel undergrads, a biochemical engineer, someone with medical expertise, railfans, and a Ph.D. candidate. User:Evrik is quoted as saying, "People have been writing history since they painted images on walls — Wikipedia is an opportunity for people to write their history as they see it."

Small study finds Wikipedia credible
First Monday released a study it conducted on Wikipedia Quality. In the study, 53 of 258 surveyed research staff responded to a request to "assess [the] credibility [of an article], the credibility of its author and the credibility of Wikipedia as a whole." The survey found that "experts found Wikipedia’s articles to be more credible than the non–experts." This surprising result was reported by arstechnica, TechSpot, and SlashDot.

Wikipedia helping to change nature of authority
Dr. Peter J. Nicholson, speaking at the University of Waterloo, identified Wikipedia as the 'single best example' of [an] authoritative paradigm shift." In a speech addressing the changing nature of information and authority, and claims Wikipedia's success is due to it being "in synch with Web culture."

Wikipedia as a source for school assignments

 * University of Nebraska-Omaha's The Gateway reports an instructor's advice that Wikipedia not be used because some articles are not referenced, there is no "peer-review", and it is a general encyclopedia which shouldn't be a source anyway. "Students should aim to exceed all encyclopedic resources at the college level."
 * Luther Colleges' Chips gives background of Wikipedia, talks about the Nature article, and quotes two professors: one discourages users from using Wikipedia, but another one says Wikipedia is a good place to start one's research.
 * In Iowa City, the local paper, Iowa City Press-Citizen interviews University of Iowa professor, Frank Durham. Durham says Wikipedia "demonstrates how online information may be manipulated and therefore must be questioned." But he says, Wikipedia "is a fine entry point, but it shouldn't be the stopping point. I don't think Wikipedia is firm ground."
 * The Wisconsin State Journal discusses the use of Wikipedia in Schools. The article advises students to check sources for any encyclopedia including Wikipedia. However, the feeling from students is that professors don't like students to use Wikipedia as a source.

Wikipedia Quality
In addition to the above articles on Wikipedia's quality, Renew America interviews Dr. Judith A. Reisman who criticises her Wikipedia biography. WBRZ-TV reports that ETS (formerly the Educational Testing Service) has been testing the ability of students to "correctly judge the objectivity of a Web site." ETS evaluated "the responses of 6,300 college and high school students" and found "just 52 percent of test takers could" do so. Wikipedia is identified as one site students need to question.

Wikipedia Processes
The Washington Post covers the AfD process including quotes from several Wikipedians who give examples of discussions on specific AfD discussions. The Post also noted that the discussions are generally courteous. In response to the Post's somewhat "snickering" tone, a blog from Network World discusses "Our love/hate relationship with Wikipedia."

Wikipedia as source

 * The Villages Daily Sun references Wikipedia for background on Budd Company, "a railroad legend".
 * Lodi News references the town's article as being an "authentic piece of Alabama in California's Central Valley." (Interestingly, this information was added by 74.61.234.97 and remained for 26 minutes before being reverted).
 * Jurist references Wikipedia as a source for background info on former Mexican President Luis Echeverria.
 * An Orlando Sentinel blog sources Wikipedia for background on Saint Joseph.
 * The New Scientist uses two diagrams (Image:LevyFlight.png and Image:BrownianMotion.png) from Lévy flight to illustrate an article on Locating (Online version requires subscription).
 * Shenandoah Valley uses Wikipedia to define Podcast.
 * Tonight (an Independent news source in South Africa) sources Wikipedia for background on David Attenborough.
 * The Toronto Star sources Wikipedia for a definition of cocktail rings and dinner rings.
 * The Sante Fe New Mexican sources Wikipedia for background on Retail therapy
 * Persian Journal sources Wikipedia for background on the Baha'i faith.
 * Oh My News (a South Korean online news source) references Wikipedia for the influence of Basketball.
 * Media Post Publications uses Wikipedia as a source for the definition of and an example of a "wiki."
 * Houston Chronicle blog credits Wikipedia for helping him find, within 20 seconds, an image from "the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by the artist Michelangelo in the 16th century. Caption under the picture calls the painting 'a classic conception of the Christian God.'"

Other news

 * Glossy News advocates that Wikipedia should generate revenue through allowing users to choose to see ads (opt-in).
 * SmartBiz instructs businesses that they should consider Wikipedia as free Web space to help advertise their business.
 * The New York Times profiles Matthew Burton and the use of Wikipidia technology in the intelligence community.
 * Internet Business Law Services uses the example of Wikipedia article History of virtual learning environments to show how Wikipedia helped the Software Freedom Law Center find evidence of prior art in a patent infringement case.
 * The Washington Post blog uses Wikipedia as an example of a rising instability where "new, small players can get unprecedented power."
 * The Age carries an article which is an edited version of the comprehensive article in The New Yorker earlier this year.