"Wikipedia's [Founder] Mr. [Jimmy] Wales has said that next year he will begin using editors to review the web site's content for accuracy and allow users to rate contributions to the encyclopedia for their quality. 'It's complex because it's a social community, and feelings can be hurt,' said Mr. Wales, but he added that the change will be critical when Wikipedia content is put on more permanent media, such as CD-ROM disks."
When Mr. Wales and others say that Wikipedia should be one of many reference tools a person uses, we wonder if the typical researcher knows about or takes the time to learn about other reference tools and techniques? Who is teaching and demonstrating these tools? Does the end user know where to find them? Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales told NPR last year that Wikipedia and most other data on the web needs to be “taken with a grain of salt.” Yes, that’s good advice. Have people listened to it? Also, lots of info sources on the web and in other fee-based databases are written and organized by publishers with years of reputation, editorial review boards, and often articles signed by the author. Yes, of course, this does not preclude them at all from mistakes. Hardly. But it’s one of several tools to judge the quality of the publication.
+ So Many Versions, So Little Time
Since access to download and use Wikipedia content is free, what about all of the many versions of Wikipedia popping-up? In other words, you can take some/all Wikipedia data and brand it as your own encyclopedia, reference shelf, etc. Are the site owners of these Wikipedia-powered sites updating postings (corrections, additions, etc.) on a regular basis? What happens when an unsuspecting researcher comes across one of these posts and doesn't realize that a more current version is available elsewhere?
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