the Un-credible Wikipedia

Source: Ecdlcentar.com 2006

In 2009, it was announced by Microsoft that its online encyclopedia, Encarta will be shutdown due to its faded popularity after Wikipedia was launched in 2001 (ABC News 2009). The article, entitled ‘Encarta to end after Wikipedia’s rise’ said that the termination of the online encyclopedia – that was launched in 1993 to compete with Britannica Encyclopedia – will be done on October 31 on the same year (ABC News 2009). "People today seek and consume information in considerably different ways than in years past’, said Microsoft (ABC News 2009).

Now a piece of news like this wouldn’t affect me in any way at all, because I am a die-hard Wikipedia fan. Whenever I want to find more about something, anything, the first source that I would go to would be Wikipedia. According to Chen (2009), many ‘often follow their existing habits to find information’ and might be ‘unwilling to explore new resources due to the constraints of time, effort, money’ and so on. Although deep inside I know the information there might not be the most reliable, but I continued using because I am familiar and comfortable with it, and I feel unwilling to try other information platforms.

Source: Cybernetnews 2008

Besides that, according to Reep (2003), a website’s content is the attraction that will draw users to surf. I find that Wikipedia’s content is thorough and contains sufficient information that is just what I was looking for. There are also many hyperlinks that will direct me to more information. The use of headings and headers made locating special information easier and enhances usability (Reep 2003). I can find specifically what I needed without going through one whole article.

Even with all these advantages, Wikipedia isn’t exactly a researcher’s best friend. Anyone, including students who needs to research for their school or university work is strongly discouraged to cite Wikipedia, some to the extent of banning the website on the school computers. Taken from Crovitz & Smoot (2009),

Wikipedia is blocked on all computers in the Warren Hills Regional School District. Some teachers at Easton Area High School discourage its use, as do offi cials at Centenary College and Lehigh University.

—“School Officials Unite in Banning Wikipedia,” Times-Express

(Easton, PA), Nov. 21, 2007.

Why is such drastic action taken? This is due to Wikipedia’s popularity and improbability. Everyone is depending on a source that is not credible. Wikipedia’s critics describe the website’s ‘universal editorial access as its most egregious flaw’ (Crovitz & Smoot 2009). As Wikipedia (n.d.) itself states – ‘Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit’. This denotes that Wikipedia entries lack ‘scholarly backbone in the form of subject experts and a referee process’ (Chandler & Gregory 2010).

Source: Theory of Knowledge 2008

Furthermore, even Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales himself discourages students to cite Wikipedia, saying “For God sake, you’re in college, don’t cite the encyclopedia?” (Chandler & Gregory 2010). Well, with that said, despite all those advantages that Wikipedia provides, I will try to stop reading Wikipedia as my first source when searching for information.


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References


ABC News 2009, 'Encarta to end after Wikipedia's rise', 31 March, viewed 16 June 2010, <http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/03/31/2530782.htm>.


Chandler, CJ & Gregory, AS 2010, 'Sleeping with the Enemy: Wikipedia in the College Classroom', The History Teacher, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 248-257. 

Chen, HL 2009, 'The use and sharing of information from Wikipedia by high-tech professionals for work purposes', The Electronic Library, vol. 27, no. 6, pp. 893-905.


Crovitz, D & Smoot, WS 2009, 'Wikipedia: Friend, Not Foe', English Journal, vol. 98, no. 3, pp. 91-97. 


Reep, DC 2003, Technical writing: principles, strategies, and readings, New York, Pearson/Longman. 


Wikipedia n.d., Wikipedia, viewed 17 June 2010, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page>.