Wikipedia, part II

So, here's the question. Do I like Wikipedia? I love it! Do you use Wikipedia? Every day! Do you recommend it for research? Hmmm. That's where it gets a little tricky.

So, let's break this down. I'll combine my love of Wikipedia and my usage of Wikipedia. First, I'm a curious girl. I like to know details of authors, tv shows, movies, etc. So, if I'm trying to figure out what I missed on Gilmore Girls, I'll just use Wikipedia to look up the episodes. Last year, we were studying Eric Carle. I found some basic information about him on his website. However, Wikipedia had the information I wanted. Also, if my kids wanted to see the movie, "Transformers", I could go to Wikipedia and look up general information related to the movie. Wikipedia is a neutral source so I wouldn't get reviews, but I would get synopsis information. I was given some canna's yesterday and wanted to find out about soil, temperature and sun. I was able to find out all of this and more. Finally, Scott and I went to the U2 concert a couple of weeks ago. I was trying to describe the stage to no avail. I checked on Wikipedia and found pictures and a thorough description.

What do you notice about all of my examples? They are all related to my life! Not one example relates to Graduate School or legitimate research. Though I must confess sometimes used Wikipedia to explain a difficult concept, I don't use it with documentation. For instance, I've been trying to determine how literature circles can be used with young readers. I looked it up on Wikipedia for a general understanding. This helped me get an overview while I look for scholarly journals and texts to give me the specific facts and research I need.

Should a student use Wikipedia as a source for a research paper? No! Absolutely not! Should a student use Wikipedia to gain a preliminary understanding on a particular concept? Yes!

Now, go look something up on Wikipedia!

Wikipedia, part I

I'm frequently asked my opinion on certain subjects. Specifically, specific books (what age is best for Twilight) and reference sites. I thought I'd explain Wikipedia today and give you my opinion of Wikipedia tomorrow. Let's breakdown the word Wikipedia. A "wiki" is a collaborative website that allows visitors to add, remove and edit the information. The rest of the word "pedia" is short for encyclopedia. So, in a nutshell this is an encyclopedia that can be modified by its users, ANY USERS!

According to the Wikipedia website, they have over 65 million visitors monthly, 75,000 active contributors and 3 million articles. The goal of Wikipedia is to have its contributors cover existing knowledge NOT cover new research. However, in addition to the general public having access to alter the information, Wikipedia also has 1,689 administrators keeping the information accurate. Will you find inaccurate information in Wikipedia? Absolutely! Will you find inaccurate information in World Book, Brittanica, etc? You betcha!

Wikipedia has many uniform regulations and policies regarding the content and validity of their information. However, their disclaimer states: Wikipedia makes no guarantee of validity. However, it should also be noted that almost all encyclopedias make the same type of statement.

I have attempted to summarize Wikipedia according to their own words. Here is the link to their "About" page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About