Reading #2

Reading #2
“Can Wikipedia ever make the Grade?”
By: Broke Read
Chronicle of Higher Education

Experts are still trying to figure out whether Wikipedia is a valid source of information and some are even trying to test their theories. Because credentials are not checked and anyone can edit Wikipedia pages, a professor decided that he would write a few fabrications on different searches to see if they would be found or not. Some were obvious and some believable, but the Wikipedia editors caught the false statements and changed them within hours.

Wikipedia leaders have said that they will focus on developing strategies that improve the quality and not quantity of the entries on the website. While assigning a grade to Wikipedia is almost impossible, researchers have tried to test the validity of information given. In a study done on scientific topics, the Encyclopedia Britannica was found to contain 3 errors; Wikipedia 4. Wikipedia founders say that having a variety of scholars, professors, teenagers, students, etc. post information on the site is better than only expert opinions.

Those same scholars who have tried to help the validity of Wikipedia seem turned off at recent situations. Experts in certain fields have posted true and factual information on Wikipedia, only to have it taken off later by the site administrators. This has caused a lot of animosity between scholars and Wikipedia users and now most are skeptical of the site.

I am torn between the experts and Wikipedia founders. While I do find it useful and utilize Wikipedia for some “research”, I limit my use of Wikipedia to only search facts or statistics on less serious topics. As far as research goes, I steer clear of citing Wikipedia as a source. While the information might be correct, it could very well not be and using Wikipedia for research has not proven to be credible enough for my use.