Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Wikipedia: How it Works and How to Use it



How it Works
a.       What is Wikipedia?
Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that is used in several different languages, that is free of charge.

b.      How would you answer the question posed in this piece “How reliable can a source be when anyone can edit it?”?
Wikipedia has put a lot of faith in people. However with people being able to edit pages they can also gain information and weed out incorrect information faster.

c.       Who do the creators of Wikipedia place their trust in when it comes to weeding out misinformation?
Wikipedia has put their trust in the people. They believe that volunteers who are always watching for new articles, corrections, or vandalism are the best way to fix mistakes quickly.  

d.      Why did founder Larry Sanger leave Wikipedia?
Mr. Sanger left Wikipedia because he felt that there should be more expert control over what is posted.

e.      What would abuse or vandalism look like on a Wikipedia page?
When anything has been changed on Wikipedia, the paragraph that has changes is highlighted and the changes themselves are written in red, making it easy for volunteers to catch.

f.        What do the statistics quoted in the third paragraph of this piece reveal?
The third paragraph in this piece reveals that not only do people all over the world use Wikipedia, but also that it is still a rapidly growing site, that is found credible enough by the public that it is one of the top ten visited sites in the world.

g.       Why do you think Wikipedia is so successful?
In my opinion, Wikipedia is so successful because there is strength in numbers. Anyone can create an article, and anyone can improve one. The more people interested in creating and correcting articles, the stronger the information on the website becomes.

h.      Why might Wikipedia’s creators not want to accept advertising?
Wikipedia may not want to accept advertising because once a website has become filled with advertisements it is a lot less enjoyable to use. Also they may not want to have advertisement s because they do not want you to read an article and then find a shopping website ten minutes later, they want you to surf Wikipedia instead.

i.         How does Wikiscanner help increase the reliability of Wikipedia entries?
The Wikiscanner allows Wikipedia to easily check out articles or corrections made by anonymous people. This makes it easier for Wikipedia to weed out false information. 

How to Use It
How do you use Wikipedia in your personal life?
I often use Wikipedia for research papers. I do not site Wikipedia, but I find information that is useful and then follow use the source that was used to support what was said on Wikipedia.

What do you think the value of Wikipedia is for classroom teachers?
Using Wikipedia in a classroom could be a great way to get children interested. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia and teachers should take advantage of this, just as they would a written encyclopedia. 

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