Apr 12, 2007 9:31 pm US/Central
Good Question: Can We Trust What Wikipedia Says?
(WCCO)
If it exists, it's probably on the Internet. Music, TV shows, movies and even encyclopedias. One popular encyclopedia Web Site lets users update its pages. It's called Wikipedia, where regular people collect all sorts of information and post it in one place.
"You can look up mainly any topic," said a college student in St. Paul.
Wikipedia contains 1.7 million articles in encyclopedia form ranging from Julius Caesar to the popular mall drink Orange Julius.
"It's a lot of fun," said Dr. Laura Gurak who teaches technical writing at the University of Minnesota. "Do I use it as a primary source?" she asked. "No, but I use it as a way to get started, yeah, why not?"
Wikipedia defines itself as a multilingual, web-based, free content encyclopedia project written by volunteers from all around the world. Articles can be edited by anyone with access to the Internet. The "wiki" in Wikipedia is from the Hawaiian word wiki-wiki meaning quick.
"Anybody can start a Wikipedia entry," said Gurak.
Unlike the book-bound encyclopedias, which typically have a staff of researchers and editors, anybody can edit a Wikipedia entry.
"The strengths are everybody has good ideas, everybody can share ideas," said Gurak.
The downside is that the information can be unreliable.
"The idea is that hopefully this community of experts, that's the phrase they use on the Web site, will come along and self-correct," said Gurak. "Wikipedia itself says you really shouldn't use this material as primary source information."
Wikipedia's own spokesperson says the online encyclopedia should be taken with a pinch of salt.
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