[Web4lib] WIKIPEDIA is now politically correct to use as areference resource

[Tim Spalding]

Exactly right. It's not the library of Alexandria; it's not a
scholarly monograph—it's an encyclopedia!

No encyclopedia should ever be a source for a serious paper, high
school or college. Britannica and the like are not some crucial
"trusted source" we should all revere. They're middle-brow furniture,
and a source for quick look-ups and casual perusal. If you need to
cite something, you shouldn't be looking in an encyclopedia anyway.

Tim

On 12/9/07, K.G. Schneider <kgs at bluehighways.com> wrote:
> >   In other words, I'm not sure how much validity this study has for
> > Wikipedia versions in other languages.
> >
> >   Bernie Sloan
>
> The "political correctness" phrase seems to be poor labeling, but I would
> cautiously agree that Wikipedia has much broader acceptance. If I had to
> capture its present zeitgeist, it would be "the place you can go for quick,
> generally-acceptable answers on a lot of topics"-the role that traditional
> encyclopedias played in the past.
>
> My personal tipping point was when I found myself editing an entry that
> mattered to me. It's not a perfect institution, and some of the claims about
> it are just plain hooey, but at the moment at least, it's an important place
> on the Web.
>
> K.G. Schneider
> kgs at freerangelibrarian.com
>
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