Friday, January 14, 2011

Happy Birthday, Wikipedia!

This weekend, a site that is insane in the way that we type in something and tons of information comes up about it, is going to be the same age as me! Yep, that's right -- 10!

How do 50 employees handle about 400 million viewers? Not only do to the employees handle the definitions so do the viewer. 

Wikipedia is not necessarily accurate because anyone can write on it. It got an 80 percent accuracy and other sources got 95-96 percent in a peer-reviewed journal ("peer-reviewed" means that a publication is reviewed for accuracy and importance by a group of professionals, usually professors and other academics). You can read more about the research here. The following is an excerpt from the study's findings:
The study did reveal inaccuracies in eight of the nine entries and exposed major flaws in at least two of the nine Wikipedia articles. Overall,Wikipedia's accuracy rate was 80 percent compared with 95-96 percent accuracy within the other sources. This study does support the claim thatWikipedia is less reliable than other reference resources. Furthermore, the research found at least five unattributed direct quotations and verbatim text from other sources with no citations. 
As a student, this research is a good reminder that Wikipedia is a good place to start in your search for information. However, it's not a place to stay. Also, an 80 percent accuracy rate -- a low B grade -- isn't terrible, considering that Wikipedia relies so much on the work of volunteers.

You can read Hillwood's Wikipedia page. Irene T., now a Hillwood graduate, wrote it in 2010. Below is our happy birthday video for Wikipedia:




By Clara and Angela

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