[Web4lib] Wikipedia in Chronicle of Higher Education

[drweb at san.rr.com]

This "pull-together" (scrape) content model is exactly why I started
using Answers.com a bit.
Some of the content is Wikipedia, which you can view or vet, etc. But,
some is from other Web content sites. It beats the 1,000,000 hits on
[insert major search engine name here] approach to find the "good
enough" stuff.

Best,
DrWeb

P. Michael McCulley
mailto:drweb at san.rr.com 
San Diego, CA 
http://drweb.typepad.com/ 

----- Original Message -----
From: Karen Coyle <kcoyle at kcoyle.net>
Date: Tuesday, October 24, 2006 12:11 pm
Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Wikipedia in Chronicle of Higher Education
To: web4lib at webjunction.org

> Mike Taylor wrote:
> > - It's a click away
> > - It's free (as in free beer)
> > - It's free (as in free speech)
> > - Its coverage is much wider
> > - It doesn't give the false impression of authority!
> >
> >
> >   
> It also has an interesting quality that I appreciate when I compare 
> it 
> to something like a web search (avoiding the G word ;-)): There is 
> an 
> article where all of the data on a topic has been pulled together. 
> The 
> work has been done for you. I know that's what an encyclopedia is 
> supposed to be, but I also know that some people use search engines 
> (and 
> I used to, too) for queries like the ones I now take to wikipedia. 
> When 
> I want to know more about the 1866 Italian plebiscite, I don't want 
> to 
> have to rummage through a bunch of web sites or articles on one 
> aspect 
> of that topic, I want the topic organized into a single article 
> with a 
> general overview, some specifics, and a decent bibliography.
> 
> kc
> 
> -- 
> -----------------------------------
> Karen Coyle / Digital Library Consultant
> kcoyle at kcoyle.net http://www.kcoyle.net
> ph.: 510-540-7596
> fx.: 510-848-3913
> mo.: 510-435-8234
> ------------------------------------
> 
> 
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