Reading Response #4:

Kathryn Smith

LIB103

11-6-08

“Can Wikipedia Ever Make the Grade?”
By Brock Read

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia founded by Jimmy Wales who describes it as, “an effort to create and distribute a multilingual free encyclopedia of the highest quality to every single person on the planet in his or her own language.” Wikipedia has helped many who seek the knowledge it offers, and anyone can contribute and edit sources of information it may provide. From Chronicle of Higher Education, author Brock Read, “Can Wikipedia Ever Make the Grade?” examines the articles accuracy of Wikipedia and the source of information it provides to the Internet. Because Wikipedia is offered to anyone, and anyone can contribute their input, exactly how accurate the contents are has raised questioning. Anyone can add material to the encyclopedia's entries without having to show any proof of expertise.

In the article, a professor by the name Alexander M.C. Halavais, an assistant professor of communications at Quinnipiac College, has turned to the open-source encyclopedia for information and has even contributed his own expertise to the site as well. While teaching at the State University of New York at Buffalo, he devised a plan to challenge the site’s authenticity. He then used a false name and credentials and entered numerous “errors” into Wikipedia’s various articles. He expected “some of his fabrications to languish online for some time,” because like many other academics he was also skeptical about this “mob-edited” publication that called itself an “authoritative encyclopedia.” But to his surprise, after less than 3 hours after posting these errors, all of his false facts were deleted from the site. This was due to the Wikipedia editors who regularly check the Web site that displays recently updated entries. Professor Halavais said he was much impressed with Wikipedia’s ability to root out his false information. Many supporters of this site often depict it “as a brave new world in which scholars can rub elbows with the general public.” On the other hand, there are many doubters who say, “Wikipedia devalues the notion of expertise itself.”

As a student myself, and often looking for quick and useful information on the Internet, I personally find that Wikipedia is a useful and fairly reliable source to gather information from. Honestly, before reading this article I was unaware that anyone was able to post information and facts to this site. But like many, when it comes to researching information I am sure to use numerous sites to be sure any information I may use if reliable and valid. This also helps to show the importance of citations and siting a source when researching information.