Tuesday's Tool: Wikipedia Revisited

In a previous post, details were given about why Wikipedia, the massive user-composed interactive encyclopedia, had finally been added to the CFLC Reference Desk page, some of its strengths and weaknesses, and later in an addendum, how to use it for an instructional exercise on critical thinking.

From a friend yesterday comes a heads-up to an excellent article about Wikipedia in The New Yorker Fact Column, entitled "Know It All: Can Wikipedia Conquer Expertise?" The article begins with a startling statistic (on March 1, 2006, Wikipedia hit the million-article mark); does some thought-provoking comparisons with Britannica (analogy: “Wikipedia is to Britannica as ‘American Idol’ is to the Juilliard School”); gives some interesting--and sometimes scary--analysis of contributors (the most prolific contributor has written a whopping 72,000 articles since 2001! [the largest edition of the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica, in comparison, has only 120,000 entries total]); summarizes some of the more controversial entries (ethnic issues, Baltimore's climate, and cheeese, among them); and provides a fair amount of detail about the administrative issues and policies behind the behemoth. The "love it or hate it" attitude of most users and contributors and the reasons for both are well conveyed.

Well worth a read for anyone in reference service or instruction or for anyone who is simply curious to know more about the tool or the technology.

SUBJECTS: REFERENCE RICHES