Monday, March 2, 2009

Wikipedia Response


Wikipedia is basically an internet dictionary, or so I thought. It is the main website to pop up when you look up the definition to any word on the internet. I really trusted the Wikipedia until I read the articles “Who’s Been Messin’ with MY Wikipeia Entry?”, “Scanner Tracks Who’s Changing What on Wikipedia” and “See Who’s Editing Wikipedia – Diebold, the CIA, a Campaign”. I also listened to NPR Podcasts relating to changing Wikipedia. Anyone can change Wikipedia, who knew, not me. The articles stated that there have been changes to Wikipedia by companies that are not researching the facts. They list what they want and sometimes they also delete information that has already been posted. Sometimes large companies may delete information; some of the companies have been Wal-mart, Diebold, and even the FBI. This helps me conclude that Wikipedia is not a safe resource of information. Only some statements are untrue, but how can we tell which one.

Virgil Griffith, a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology, developed a Wikipedia scanner. The scanner helps to track the IP addresses of who has changed the Wikipedia definition. This allows you to know if it or they are reliable sources. We can begin to see by this that everything you count on, may not be as reliable as you think.

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