Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Jimmy Wales on the birth of Wikipedia



Wikipedia really is one of the best parts of the Internet. Anytime you Google a person or event, most of the time the Wikipedia article is one of the first options. Wikipedia really has innovated the way we can access information. For anyone that uses the internet on a day-to-day basis, there really is no telling how many times we’ve used Wikipedia. Wikipedia is the ultimate example of the most effective use of crowdsourcing that I can think of. The fact that they can get so many people to volunteer is truly amazing. I’ve always thought how anyone can go and change or update any profile at any time was the coolest part of that website.  Having people want to volunteer their free time to help build the worlds largest encyclopedia is really the most effective example of crowdsourcing. That being said, the fact that ANYONE can go on there and change anything they want also is the part that gives it stigma. Most teachers and professors HATE Wikipedia because its assumed to be unreliable because anyone can add to it. One thing that you have to keep in mind is that it’s almost impossible to try to add something to a page without a source to back it up (I know this first hand) There is a huge community that is passionate about keeping Wikipedia reliable and accurate.

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