1.
 Brandon Rosenthal  John DiMieri

2.
What do you think
Wikipedia is and
how would you
characterize it?

3.
 In fact yes it is…The Company is actually
called WikiMedia Foundation and its mission
is fulfilled by Wikipedia.

4.
 “The mission of the Wikimedia Foundation is
to empower and engage people around the
world to collect and develop educational
content under a free license or in the
public domain, and to disseminate it effectively
and globally.”

5.
 Did they good job fulfilling
their mission statement using
Wikipedia?
 How often do you use it?
 Why do you use it?

6.
 January 7th 2013 – Colbert Report Interview!
 http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-
report-videos/422660/january-07-2013/jimmy-
wales

7.
 A constantly updated, community organized
internet encyclopedia.
 Ability to allow random people, as well as a
dedicated following, to edit any page.
 As a safety net, there are 85,000 unpaid
workers
 Ability to block people’s edits
 Make new pages
 Correct incorrectly edited pages

8.
 The Wikipedia Community
 Power Structure
 Administrators can block people, restrict certain pages,
and delete pages, as well as edit.
 Wikipedia editors can award “barnstars” to each
other
 New users
 Up to sixty percent of Wikipedia's registered users
never make another edit after their first 24 hours –
Wikipedia culture is unique and scares “outsiders”
away.

9.
 Vandalism Issues
 Definition: To falsify information on a Wikipedia
page
 Website is subject to human error
 The law views Wikipedia as a “private citizen”
rather than a “public figure”
 There is a right to be anonymous , thus making hard
to trace edits
 Cyber Bullying

10.
 Do you think you should be held accountable?
 Is being blocked by users enough?
 Should you be able to edit anonymously?

11.
 Global Reach
 There are articles in 285 languages as of January 2013
 Donations are taken by any currency around the
world
 24 million articles
 It has become the largest and most popular
general reference work on the Internet, ranking sixth
globally among all websites on Alexa and having an
estimated 365 million readers worldwide.

12.
 Accuracy
-Wikipedia admits “there is no guarantee of
validity”
-However, a 2007 study by researchers at
Dartmouth College found that “anonymous and
infrequent contributors to Wikipedia are as reliable
as those contributors who register with the site”
-McPherson vs Wikipedia - Abraham Lincoln
Comparison
 Both articles were accurate and covered the major
episodes of Lincoln’s life

13.
 Have you ever donated?
 Do you plan to donate now after this
presentation?