Wikipedia

1
Wikipedia
By Eric Van Tyne
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What is Wikipedia?

• Web-based multilingual encyclopedia project
• Free content written collaboratively by
  volunteers from around the world
• Articles can be written or edited by anyone with
  Internet access
• Managed by non-profit organization called The
  Wikimedia Foundation

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History of Wikipedia

• Wikipedia emerged from Nupedia
• Nupedia was a web-based encyclopedia started in
  2000 that included free content written by true
  experts only.
• Requirements to be a contributor to Nupedia were
  tough, with a 7-step editorial process
• Wikipedia was started in early 2001 as a side
  project to allow collaboration on articles before
  they entered the peer review process
• It developed a large amount of interest mainly
  because of its lack of a bureaucratic peer review
  system this led to the downfall of Nupedia in
  Sept. 2003
• Since it was launched in 2001, Wikipedia has
  expanded to include
• 75,000 active contributors working on 5,300,000
  articles in over 100 languages
• 123 servers in 3 major locations around the world

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Size Comparison
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The Uses of Wikipedia

• Uses of Wikipedia include
• Acquire / Share knowledge
• Everyone in the survey that had used Wikipedia
  said they consume it, or use it to acquire
  knowledge
• Some people mentioned they use it for research,
  others mentioned they use it for general
  information or random topics they would like to
  be informed about
• Research, although usually limited
• Use of tools and other sources included in
  Wikipedia such as a dictionary, quotations,
  books, manuals, scientific references, and news
  services

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Impact

• Ability to easily access and contribute to
  articles
• Majority of survey respondents mentioned the
  easy access to understandable information
  aspect
• Vast amount of information
• Changed the way information is reached through
  the Internet by collaboration
• Has changed the view of encyclopedia
• User-sustained or reader-sustained encyclopedia
• More than just specific scientific topics

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Issues

• Accuracy / Overall Quality
• Anyone can edit an article and the information
  they submit may not be accurate
• Article bias
• A well developed Wiki often has a neutral
  standpoint
• After examining 42 articles in both the
  encyclopedias, Nature obtained the following
  results
• Britannica 123 errors, an average of 2.92 by
  article
• Wikipedia 162 errors, an average of 3.86 by
  article.
• Systems in place such as peer review, good
  article assessment, and featured articles
• Abuse/Vandalism
• Annoying, but can be easily undone
• Page history allows pages to be restored
• administrators can lock or place limits on
  certain articles like current events and ban
  users

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The Future

• More types of data
• Videos and sound
• 3D interaction
• More free content
• Project convergence
• Different WikiMedia tools integrated into Wikis
• Google tools
• As long as Wikipedia can keep up with new online
  technology and web tools that can interact with
  their articles, it will remain to be the largest
  and most popular reference site.

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References

• Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org)
• Britannica (www.brittanica.com)
• Encarta (http//encarta.msn.com)
• Intelligent Designs Blog 5/4/07 Is Wikipedia
  Complete? (http//intelligentdesigns.net/blog/?p6
  0)