Week 7- Response To Content

Wikipedia: Is it all that is appears to be? 

http://ohinternet.com/Wikipedia

            


More or less when you type anything into a search engine, one of the first results is going to be an page from Wikipedia. In the last few yearsWikipedia has become the go to web site to find information of any sorts. It is  "an international project that uses Wiki software to collaboratively create an encyclopedia. (Voss, pg.1)  But the really question up for debate is whether or not it is useful. I feel Wikipedia is absolutely useful, but only to a certain extent; It is useful to find information out, however the the information is not reliable enough to be used in an academic paper. Personally I feel like Wikipedia is an excellent place to start any paper. If you read the section on a given topic I believe you get a very good idea, sometimes detailed more then other times, and a very good outline of everything. From there, one can then movie on an more or less validate and look further in depth into parts of the given topic.


The main issue with Wikipedia is that anyone can change the information on it; that is why some people are skeptical using it. It used to be that anyone could change the info, but today it is harder because you have to be a registered user in order to be able to change or add information. I personally have never attempted to change anything, but I have heard stories of people that have. Usually in they put up false information is lasts up there for a few days before it is corrected or removed. As I said before this was a couple of years ago, I would imagine that is is harder to change things and if you did in would get taken down very quickly.


So as I say I do think Wikipedia is very useful. Whether it is to get a complete broad outline of a research topic or help with a homework assignment, I find myself looking at it all the time. More so I find it extremely useful and reliable just to find the answer to everyday questions. If I randomly wonder about a date or the name of a person, Wikipedia is the idea place to find the answer.  


Reference: Voss, Jakob. "Measuring Wikipedia." Humboldt-University of Berlin, Institute for Library Science (2005). Online. http://hapticity.net/pdf/nime2006_180-works_cited/MeasuringWikipedia2005.pdf