Clicking Around on Wikipedia
March 21, 2008
The Help Links have some great info on the community and the nuts and bolts of how writing happens.
The last one is really interesting, setting up Wikipedia as a kind of reference library with volunteer reference librarians serving to answer questions.
I feel like I am wrestling a giant with this topic. Next week I am going to try to wrap my arms around this a bit and find some wikipedia in the news with some articles linked.
We’ll see what the weekend brings.
March 22, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Judd I have a question, but I am not sure you can answer it???? I have always been told by my Professors that Wikipedia is not a reliable source and that it should not be referenced within a paper. What do you think?
March 22, 2008 at 3:35 pm
I think Wikipedia isn’t a reliable source but it can be a great jumping off point.
The most valuable parts for me have always been the bottom of any given entry, where they show their sources and their External Links.
But I agree and don’t think its a one stop shopping source but its a good place to get ideas on where to go next so that you can find other sources that back up wikipedia’s claims.
Honestly, though, we shouldn’t be relying on any one print source either. I think the big fallacy with mistrusting Wikipedia is that no one source should be used for any academic endeavor.
March 23, 2008 at 7:42 pm
I didn’t realize that you could leave questions at a “reference desk” and volunteer librarians would answer them. It would be interesting to see how oftenthis feature is used and whether the answers provided are what the person was looking for.
Thanks.
March 27, 2008 at 1:42 pm
I didn’t know about the reference desk either! It reminds me of the VRD in which we participated in 605. It would be interesting to see if users are satisfied!