I tend to shy away from using Wikipedia, however, I recently found myself deeply enthralled in the pages of a few NFL officials. I read a story of how one official was caught on tape cursing out another official during a preseason game. I also read about how one official hit a player in the eye with a flag filled with ball bearings. I was linked to several different pages and I spent the good part of an hour reading the stories.
My main use for Wikipedia has been to find non-educational material. I like that public knowledge is out there. Many times when I Google search a quote or an event involving certain people I am directed to Wikipedia. I am comfortable with the knowledge I get in those instances.
As an educational resource I have always been against using Wikipedia as my main source. One reason for this is that I have been warned about the inaccuracy of Wikipedia. Many of my professors and colleagues say stay away from Wikipedia. The other reason that I have been against using Wikipedia was brought up in the Colbert Report as well as the book Made To Stick. Based on the Colbert report, if enough people believe something then according to Wikipedia it is true. That is just like the myths about The Kentucky Fried Rat, Coca-Cola, and the Kidney Heist from the book. There have been no facts to back those myths up, yet they are absolute truth to many people. That is why when I use Wikipedia, I always check another reputable source to back up my information.
When I started this assignment I was dead set against using Wikipedia as an educational resource. As I did some research on the topic of whether or not Wikipedia is a reliable educational took, I found some surprising results that started to sway my opinion on the matter. Wikipedia has been used as a reference in educational and scientific journals 2,047 times since 2003. That year Wikipedia was cited 1 time. In 209, Wikipedia was listed as a source 614 times. This is a trend that shows increased confidence in the information provided there. I came across other studies that have shown that accuracy of Wikipedia rivals that of Encyclopedia Britannica.
My position of Wikipedia is still skeptical. Some topics are incomplete and not informative, while others are full of information. My skepticism comes from the fact that anyone can type information in. Many of us falsified information and although mine was changed back in less than 24 hours, what if someone used that before it was corrected? My belief has been weakened, and it may eventually sway towards trusting Wikipedia, but right now my best advice is to find many different resources to back up the given information. Information is the key and the more you have the better off you will be.
Terdiman, Daniel. Cnet News. Wikipedia as accurate as Britannica. January 15, 2011. http://news.cnet.com/Study-Wikipedia-as-accurate-as-Britannica/2100-1038_3-5997332.html
Heath, Chip and Heath, Dan. Made to Stick. Random House, January 2, 2007.
Wikipedia. “Track and Field” January 15, 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_and_field
Wikipedia. “Ron Winter” January 15, 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Winter
Wikipedia. “Jeff Triplette” January 15, 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Triplette
Wikipedia. “Reliability of Wikipedia” January 15, 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_of_Wikipedia
I really like the picture you decided to use to depict Wikipedia. The dictator, banging his fist, demanding that Wikipedia presents “Facts you can trust” is perfect. In “fact” as we all know that is exactly the problem now isn’t it! I agree with you that as an initial reference source it can be helpful to check Wikipedia. Getting a potential direction to travel in can save time. Wikipedia does do a good job of listing a lot of sources related to your search topic. Using other sources to confirm what you found on Wikipedia is a must, unfortunately that seems to defeat the whole purpose!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the references to Wikipedia as accurate as Encyclopedia Britannica. Didn't see reference to running test under Option A or B. Did I miss it?
ReplyDeleteWow, I can't believe I didn't put that in. I posted an entry on track and field. In less then 24 hours it was changed.
ReplyDelete