The world has significantly changed in the past decade. Especially the growth of internet has brought a considerable effect on people’s lifestyle and thinking. Talking about this weeks’ topic, Wikipedia has changed the education style. There was a time, when students would take a pile of books from library or seek information from teachers, professionals and friends to do a research work. But Wikipedia provides all these facilities on one page, including the list of related sources and links for further research.
Moreover, as far as reliability is concerned, then Wikipedia is one of the most visited site so even if the information contains errors , it would be edited or deleted by other users. Moreover people follow the trend. Talking about the reliability of information, there is so much information available on internet which people rely upon not knowing its actual source. Of course, the information cannot be used for medical purposes or other extremely important stuffs. I prefer the use of Wikipedia- the collaborative intelligence to get an overview of subjects rather than getting precise information. It is difficult to say who will gather accurate information in coming ten years. Even if Encyclopedia Britannica gathers accurate information, it will still lack the broader review…..given by collaborative users all over the world.
But how much can one rely on Wikipedia, has always remained a concern. While one may rely on encyclopedia for its reliability, an article(http://news.cnet.com/Digg-continues-to-battle-phony-stories/2100-1025_3-6144652.html) shows that the errors caused by encyclopedia on various topics are quite close to that caused by Wikipedia. Encyclopedia has 100 fulltime editors and 4000 contributors and on the other hand Wikipedia has been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. It has around 90,000 regular active contributors. This helps Wikipedia to make a broad review of information along with details known only to local or expertise of that field. Some of the information is not available in books and Encyclopedia. It is for this and some other reasons that personally, I am more comfortable with Wikipedia. For example: When I gave the search of Philadelphia in both Wikipedia as well as Encyclopedia, I got the information of climate, cuisines, history , tourism, people and other details all on one page in Wikipedia whereas in case of Encyclopedia I only got a little information of Geographic details, leaving upto me for advanced research. Most people love user friendly websites and articles that save time and give a quick overview of the subject.
Moreover, as far as reliability is concerned, then Wikipedia is one of the most visited site so even if the information contains errors , it would be edited or deleted by other users. Moreover people follow the trend. Talking about the reliability of information, there is so much information available on internet which people rely upon not knowing its actual source. Of course, the information cannot be used for medical purposes or other extremely important stuffs. I prefer the use of Wikipedia- the collaborative intelligence to get an overview of subjects rather than getting precise information. It is difficult to say who will gather accurate information in coming ten years. Even if Encyclopedia Britannica gathers accurate information, it will still lack the broader review…..given by collaborative users all over the world.
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