Into this debate about the reliability of Wikipedia leaps the 12–year old figure of Lucian George from north London, who found five errors in the latest edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. BBC reports that A schoolboy has uncovered several mistakes in the latest edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica – regarded by readers as an authority… Read More »
The guys at Wikipedia, the collaborative encylcopedia, have taken on news, Wired reports. Wikinews is still in beta, but fully functioning. For those familiar with South Korean news site OhmyNews (an English version is here), the idea is similar: Authors are able to add their content irrrespective of who they are. Unlike OhmyNews, however, other people… Read More »
A few weeks back I wrote in my column of Wikipedia, the peer-produced online encyclopedia. Several readers and friends have asked whether it really stands up to scrutiny. How could something produced by a bunch of folk who may or may not have the qualifications, may or may not have an agenda, create something that’s… Read More »
Here’s a great example of the Internet as it should be: A font of constantly updated knowledge — available for free. By Jeremy Wagstaff (WSJ, FEER) Feb. 16, 2004 6:56 pm ET (original is here (paywall)) Wouldn’t it be great if there was a place on the Internet where educated folk pooled their knowledge for… Read More »
This week’s Loose Wire column is about Wikipedia: Wouldn’t it be great if there was a place on the Internet where educated folk pooled their knowledge for nothing, conscientiously building up a huge, orderly and free database on subjects as varied as wind gradients and the yellow-wattled lapwing? Actually, it’s already happened. It’s an on-line… Read More »