Wikipedia in the NYT
March 17th, 2008 by NicoleI was looking through the New York Times today, and there was a fairly negative article
on the Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales. I don’t really have much of an opinion on this article because I don’t really know much about Wikipedia besides what’s in the reading. I was wondering if people would mind talking a bit more about their experiences with Wikipedia and similar sites especially in regards to the reading. Ben made an interesting post before where people got talking in the comments, but I’d like to bring it up again and see what people are thinking and perhaps get more perspectives.
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The link to the article isn’t working for me so I can’t comment on that. But I have to say that I LOVE Wikipedia. I use it when I want to get some general information about something that I’m not too familiar with. Whether it’s getting some background info on a book I’m reading for a class, a band I might want to check out, or anything that comes to mind that seems interesting or significant but I don’t know much about, I can use this site.
In response to Ben’s post, I’m generally wary and critical of hierarchies, but in the case of Wikipedia I think a certain degree of hierarchy is necessary. Administrators are needed to ensure that posted information is accurate, objective, clear, and relevant to the topic. If these things are lost, the website completely loses its value. They are also needed to make sure everything in the database runs smoothly.
That being said, I find Wikipedia to be very accessible. For my “Vietnam and the 60’s” class in high school, we reenacted an event in which a bunch of people tried to levitate the Pentagon using their minds during a Vietnam protest-we used our school. We were then able to add this to our school’s page on Wikipedia. It’s not there anymore for obvious reasons, but we were able to post it nonetheless. So I guess what I’m trying to say is that Greg makes a good point in his response to Ben’s post: Wikipedia isn’t strictly democratic, it’s participatory, and I think that this is for the best.