Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Wikipedia

Many people have a problem with Wikipedia. Because anybody can change what is said there, you have a situation where just about anything can be said about anything...

What is forgotten is that a every one of the people who take the time to write the various Wikipedia articles feel it is important enough to take the time and write something there. Whether it is truthful or not.

However, it should also be remembered that in the long term of this tool, that the truth will eventually come out. If someone sabotages an entry, it is pretty easily repaired.

Librarians don't like Wikipedia because they feel it is not reliable. I don't use Wikipedia as an authoritative source. I use Wikipedia as a starting point to find the authoritative source. Most of the time, it can be used to track down sources relatively easily, as Wikipedia does require sources be listed, or there is a warning tag stating this.

Should librarians dislike Wikipedia? I don't think so, as long as it is able to give a starting point for better research.

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