[Web4lib] Wikipedia in Chronicle of Higher Education

[lars]

B.G. Sloan wrote:

>   Can Wikipedia Ever Make the Grade? Volume 53, Issue 10, Page A31.
>   http://chronicle.com/free/v53/i10/10a03101.htm 

In that article, former ALA president Michael Gorman is quoted to 
have said: "The problem with an online encyclopedia created by 
anybody is that you have no idea whether you are reading an 
established person in the field or someone with an ax to grind".

I'd say, if editors were required to be academics, we'd be more 
certain they had an ax to grind.  I don't see how such a 
requirement on its own would solve any problems.  Perhaps Larry 
Sanger's new project will show us, but I'm not betting on it.

Later in the same article, however, history professor Roy 
Rosenzweig "notes, amusedly, that several Wikipedians appear to 
have since read his critiques and edited a number of articles in 
response to his concerns."

This is where the academics fit in: reading Wikipedia and pointing 
out the errors, but not necessarily in writing the text to begin 
with.  If professors find their Wikipedia edits are reverted, 
perhaps some scholarly journal could devote a column to "this 
month's errors in Wikipedia", from where experienced wikipedians 
could source corrections.  Reporting an error is a contribution, 
even if it isn't edited right into the text at Wikipedia.org.

Is this what the Chronicle wants to start here and now?  If so, I 
hope future columns will find contributors who are educated beyond 
the level where they are surprised that they can edit Wikipedia or 
that articles contain many links.


-- 
  Lars Aronsson (lars at aronsson.se)
  Aronsson Datateknik - http://aronsson.se