1. Wikipedia 'The free encyclopaedia
that anyone can edit'
• A wiki is a website that any visitor can add
to, and amend, using a normal web
browser. Wikipedia is just the most widely
recognised.
2. How does it work?
• Alongside each wiki page there is a
discussion page, and a history of all edits,
so that its development is transparent.
• If a page is vandalised – or amended in a
way you happen to disagree with – it can
be restored to a former version, via the
history page
3. Links to the web’s roots
• In 2003, Jimmy Wales (one of the
founders of Wikipedia) founded the
Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit
charitable organisation, and donated
Wikipedia to it, an act intended to secure
its non-commercial future. In doing so,
Wales surrendered the opportunity to sell
Wikipedia, potentially losing out on an
estimated $3 billion
5. Accuracy
• The notion that any statement that anybody has
ever managed to get into a book or article is
going to be inherently better than Wikipedia
content clearly doesn't make sense, especially
as Wikipedia is subject to continuous checking
and updating – precisely unlike anything in print.
• A study published in the science journal Nature
compared Wikipedia and Encyclopedia
Brittanica and found that – and I quote –
'Wikipedia comes close to Britannica in terms of
the accuracy of its science entries‘.
6. Why Contribute?
• Users spend hours collaborating on an
accessible resource for others, for very
little personal reward.
• Sense well-being from showing off
knowledge.
• Kudos from other contributors.
• Basic human need to feel a part of a
community, sense of belonging.
7. Vandalism and controversy
• Controversial topics attract people with axes to
grind, but then those people are forced into
dialogue with others, and a balanced
presentation of different viewpoints is arrived at.
• Controversial views not excluded, but may end
up with whole articles of their own: as in the
case of the detailed articles on, for example,
9/11 conspiracy theories, and holocaust denial).
