Friday, October 26, 2012

Wikis: Collaborative Writing and Learning Activity #1

a. What is Wikipedia?
 "Wikipedia is a multilingual, Web-based encyclopedia project, operated by the Wikimedia Foundation, a nonprofit organization."

b. How would you answer the question posed in this piece, "How reliable can a source be when anyone can edit it?
From Wikipedia's defenders say: "The problem with Wikipedia is that it only works in practice. In theory, it can never work." More seriously, they put their faith in the "wisdom of crowds," believing that by having many people watching what appears there, errors and vandalism will be weeded out, sooner rather than later. 
    
c. Who do the creators of Wikipedia place their trust in when it comes to weeding out misinformatin?
When one edits Wikipedia, their edit is not published until a society of experts in the particular subject agrees with the edit. It seems to be a very reliable source. 

d. What would abuse or vandalism look like on a wikipedia page?
Before anything is released on Wikipedia there are a society of experts reading and watching for abuse, vandalism, and advertising, and are weeded out so that they will not be published.

e. How does wikiscanner help increase the reliability of Wikipedia entries?
Wikiscanner, checkes IP address of anonymous editors of the site; which exposes examples of self-interested editing by prominent businesses and governments around the world. Wikipedia's leaders hailed the device as another check on abuse at the site.

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