[Web4lib] The Wikipedia Gotcha

[Richard Wiggins]

Let me clarify:  People who cite Wikipedia do not tend to cite a version.
They cite Wikipedia.  So you read an old article citing an old version, you
head to Wikipedia and you read new, possibly better, possibly worse
information.

/rich


On 2/21/07, Rob Styles <Rob.Styles at talis.com> wrote:
>
>   You're right of course that not all edits are improvements and that is
> the thrust of much of the discussion on this thread. That's part of the
> downside of collaboration with groups of any size. I agree that there also a
> number of pages that are so contentious that they have to be special cases.
>
>
>
> You are incorrect about the assertion that there is no versioning,
> however. All pages carry full history in a little tab at the top:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Library_2.0&action=history
>
>
>
> rob
>
>
>
> Rob Styles
> Programme Manager, Data Services, Talis
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>
> *From:* Richard Wiggins [mailto:richard.wiggins at gmail.com]
> *Sent:* 21 February 2007 15:58
> *To:* Rob Styles
> *Cc:* web4lib at webjunction.org
> *Subject:* Re: [Web4lib] The Wikipedia Gotcha
>
>
>
> That cuts both ways.  It would be foolish to assume that each article
> grows ever more perfect over time.  Remember Wikipedia having to ban
> house.gov because Congressional staffers were gleefully editing their
> bosses' bios to sanitize away their foibles?  Any given edit could be an
> improvement, or it could turn the Wikipedia article into total falsehood.
>
>
>
> And there is no version control.
>
>
>
> Thus you could cite the earlier, correct version of the article, and when
> people follow the citation link, they get the current, 100% wrong version.
>
>
>
> /rich
>
>
>
> On 2/21/07, *Rob Styles* <Rob.Styles at talis.com> wrote:
>
> Let's also consider though how the two systems - journals and Wikipedia
> - handle failures in the integrity of the work.
>
>
> If I reference (in print) an article on Wikipedia that has incorrect
> material in it my reference may remain static but the material need not.
> The article can be updated to reflect new information, corrections,
> citations of newer sources. If my article achieves notoriety for,
> perhaps, misquoting or misrepresenting the meaning of the Wikipedia
> article the article can supplemented to correct and specifically address
> visitors arriving from my reference. Those interested in what was
> contained on Wikipedia at the time of my reference can refer to the
> history and make their own conclusions.
>
> In short, web-based material is able to recover from mistakes in a way
> that printed material is not.
>
>
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