It looks like Sanger is finally putting his ideas for a more “authoritative” Wikipedia alternative to the test with Digital Universe. Sanger’s well-publicized criticisms of what he sees as Wikipedia’s lack of respect for expertise have contributed to widespread debate how the wiki model’s accuracy compares to traditional reference resources, particularly with respect to […]
Hot on the heels of widespread criticism of Wikipedia’s authority, Nature conducted a comparison and found that the difference in accuracy between science articles in Britannica and Wikipedia is not that big. See the Nature article for details.
However, as noted in the Slashdot posting, some folks at Wikipedia found that the Wikipedia samples used […]
John Seigenthaler tells his story.
Bill Drew points to the WikiProject Librarians page at Wikipedia. Intro:
We librarians flatter ourselves that we know a thing or two about organizing information. It’s time we stepped up and contributed to Wikipedia: not just to its content but to its structures and technologies. This project page is intended to provide a rallying point […]
Sanger has written a detailed history of Wikipedia in an effort to clarify how it became what it is today, and it’s a must-read for a number of reasons:
The Early History of Nupedia and Wikipedia part I
The Early History of Nupedia and Wikipedia part II
One very interesting higher-level point:
Wikipedia became what it is today because, […]
Steven Cohen posts critically about authors tagging their own work.
I’ve noticed that quite a few bloggers have been tagging their own blog posts on del.icio.us. My belly barometer goes off when I see this. It just doesn’t seem right to me. I find it counter-intuitive to the collective knowledge base. It also seems a bit […]
Over at Loomware Mark Leggott has linked to a fascinating look at the evolution of a Wikipedia article as demonstrated by John Udell. Using the heavy metal umlaut entry, he shows how certain threads go through life cycles, how vandalism is swiftly corrected and the way in which the famous Wikipedia self-correcting NPOV mechanism […]
These two articles are great resources on the wiki phenomenon:
Wikis Described in Plain English from Common Craft
Wikiphilia - The New Illness from Hacknot
And while we are on the subject of wikis, don’t forget to buy some Wikipedia products for the fundraiser.
Need help choosing a wiki engine, particularly for use with a library? I’ve spent some time with a number of different options and have come down to two engines that can fill different needs.
1. PmWiki
PmWiki is, IMO, probably the single best option for a library. In fact, the Univeristy of Minnesota Libraries staff […]