[Web4lib] Authority + Wikipedia

[V. Chris & Tom Tinney, Sr.]

Peter Morville wrote:
. . .

>Third, I'm including below some facts about 
>the Wikipedia.  Its growing popularity as 
>a reference source makes it worthy of study 
>by academics and librarians.  I, for one, 
>would love to see some serious evidence-based
>academic research that compares the quality 
>and accuracy and bias of the Wikipedia to 
>traditional reference sources.
>
------------------------------------------
Reference and Homework Help includes
http://www.academic-genealogy.com/referencehomeworkhelp.htm
Academic Directories and Learning Guides
from Oxford, Stanford and Yale Universities.
"Created by experts, AllLearn's Directories
index leading academic websites that meet
the highest intellectual standards."

AllLearn offers "a free online library of Academic
Directories and Learning Guides. Created by academic
specialists, the AllLearn library is an indispensable tool
for online research and self-guided learning." . . .
"AllLearn responds to all e-mail inquiries within
1 to 3 hours during customer service hours.
Inquiries received after customer service hours
are answered the next day."  Contact Point:
http://www.alllearn.org/help.jsp

The Wikipedia is "worthy of study 
by academics and librarians."  
Therefore, I suggest you forward
your interest to the AllLearn group
and see if they will present to you
and this web4lib group, an exhaustive
evaluation of Wikipedia.  In the
near future, a consortium of schools 
http://www.academic-genealogy.com/schoolscollegesuniversities.htm
of higher education, their retired alumni
with credentials, or online professors 
with emeritus status, (with the approval
of the Board of Trustees of Wikipedia),
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia#Board_of_Trustees
could regularly monitor previously 
selected sections of Wikipedia, inserting 
"Seals of Approval" to worthy pages therein.

This would accelerate the use and quality
of Wikipedia, exponentially, in my opinion.
This "Seal of Approval" was the format of
the now defunct Argus Clearinghouse,
http://www.clearinghouse.net/
an academic venture begun at 
the University of Michigan in 1993. 
http://www1.umn.edu/oit/newsletter/0996-itn/starting_points.html
SAMPLE: Campus Tours: Virtual College Tours
http://www.clearinghouse.net/cgi-bin/chadmin/viewitem/Education/higher_education/higher_education__general_?551+

Addition of many primary source records 
would substantially increase the value of the
Wikipedia, such as UCB Professor Emeritus 
Alan H. Nelson's transcription of the
St. Leonard Shoreditch Parish Registers 1558-1640
http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~ahnelson/PARISH/Leonard.html

Respectfully yours,

Tom Tinney, Sr.
Who's Who in America, Millennium Edition [54th] - 2004
Who's Who In Genealogy and Heraldry, {both editions]
Genealogy and Family History Internet Web Directory
http://www.academic-genealogy.com/