What’s So Good About Wikipedia?

Laura WilsonReference Librarian

Framingham State CollegeJuly 14, 2010

Wikipedia : The Basics•Free online encyclopedia!

▫No login required, anyone can access the information provided

• Coverage range▫Includes 3,349,000+ English language articles

(as of July 13, 2010)

•Currency▫Articles can be edited immediately, providing

the most recent information available

Wikipedia : The Basics• Simple, user-friendly layout

▫Easy to navigate

• Available in many languages

• Links to additional info, source citations, suggestions for further reading

• Each article has a discussion page and history▫You can view when changes were made to the

page, and any discussion about those changes

Wikipedia : The Basics• Most text and many images are under Creative

Commons & GNU Free Documentation License▫Can freely distribute and reproduce content

• Many contributors from all over the world▫Nearly 12,700,000 registered users (as of

7/13/2010) Anyone can contribute and edit

reduces cultural bias

• Hosted by Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization

Wikipedia’s Bad Reputation

Why does Wikipedia have a bad reputation?

Wikipedia’s Bad Reputation

•Anyone can write / edit an article▫Not “scholarly”

•Vandalism▫http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Wikipedia:Bad_Jokes_and_Other_Deleted_Nonsense

▫http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Most_vandalized_pages

Wikipedia Has Standards• Information provided must cite verifiable,

published sources▫Particularly if someone disputes presented

information If disputed information is not cited, it will be deleted http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Template_mes

sages/Disputes

•Articles must not present original research

•All articles must be written from a neutral point of view

Wikipedia Has Standards

•Over 1,500 administrators (as of 7/13/2010)

▫Mediators in content disputes▫Delete articles▫Block vandals accounts / IP addresses▫Protect vandalized articles from further edits

•Wikipedia explicitly states that not all content is valid³▫Advises to be “wary of one single source”

and to “check references”

Wikipedia and Educators• Professors have created assignments for

students based on Wikipedia ▫Edit existing articles▫Create new articles

• Discuss strengths and weaknesses of existing articles on a topic relative to the course▫Cover course content and information literacy

• Contribute / edit content themselves▫Add scholarly information of experts

Wikipedia and Librarians

•Use Wikipedia in library instruction sessions to teach information literacy▫Have students evaluate good and bad

aspects of particular articles

•Contribute / edit information▫More scholarly environment▫Add relevant external links to library

homepage / collections Meet the users where they are ª

Sister Projects of Wikipedia

•Hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation• Wikiversity: Free learning materials & activities

for all levels (pre-school – university, professional development)

• Wikimedia Commons: freely usable multimedia files

• Wikiquote: “free quote compendium”• Wikitionary: free content, multilingual dictionary• Wikibooks: open content textbooks / books• Wikinews: free news source• Wikispecies: free species directory

•“We know from history that prohibition is not a viable means to control consumption of “bad” things. This is especially the case for Wikipedia if information professionals are sneakily using it themselves. Like the 1930s war on alcohol, a ban on Wikipedia would mean far more losses than gains.” – William Badke, Trinity Western University¹

Works Cited• ²Badke, William. (2008). What to Do with

Wikipedia. Infolitland, 32:2. Retrieved from: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/

• ª Pressley, Lauren and McCallum, Carolyn J. (2008). Putting the library in Wikipedia. Online 32:5. Retrieved from: www.infotoday.com/online/sep08/Pressley_McCallum.shtml

• ¹http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Verifiability • ³

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Researching_with_Wikipedia

Suggested Reading

•Broughton, John. (2008). Wikipedia: The missing manual. Beijing; Cambridge: O’Reilly.

•Lally, Ann M. and Dunford, Carolyn E. (2007). Using Wikipedia to extend digital collections. D-Lib Magazine 13:5/6.

•Pollard, Elizabeth Ann. (2008). Raising the stakes: Writing about witchcraft on Wikipedia. History Teacher 42:1.