Wikipedia

a. What is Wikipedia? Wikipedia is a web-based encyclopedia project. It is multilingual and run by the non profit organization Wikimedia Foundation.

b. How would you answer the question posed in this piece “How reliable can a source be when anyone can edit it?” The answer would differ depending on who edited the post and how much knowledge they had of the subject. If the leading scientist in a field edited a post about his field, then it would likely be very reliable, but if a mechanic tried to edit it then it likely would not be. In order to use Wikipedia you have to be able to decide these things for yourself and research the topic from other sources to figure out what is and isn't reliable.

c. Who do the creators of Wikipedia place their trust in when it comes to weeding out misinformation? The wisdom of the crowds. It would be nice to think that everyone possesses the knowledge and know how to weed out misinformation, but this isn't the case.

d. Why did founder Larry Sanger leave Wikipedia? He believed that it should give more authority to experts to allow for more credible information.

e. What would abuse or vandalism look like on a Wikipedia page? Obvious misinformation, anonymous posters that don't identify their credentials, people writing mean or hateful things that obviously have no standing and nothing to do with the topic.

f. What do the statistics quoted in the third paragraph of this piece reveal? People still use Wikipedia and they use it frequently. People also still see it as a useful platform for sending and receiving information.

g. Why do you think Wikipedia is so successful? I think it is an easy way to access information that other websites do not talk about. For example, people with insider information on government activities can post it to Wikipedia, even though the government website might not want to share that information.

h. Why might Wikipedia’s creators not want to accept advertising? The point of Wikipedia is to collect unbiased information that people can look for and learn from, they don't want extremely biased adds all over the page encouraging people to think or do things a certain way.

i. How does Wikiscanner help increase the reliability of Wikipedia entries? It traced the IP addresses of the computer from which the information was posted, so that anonymous posters could be checked out. So if a government agency secretly posted biased information, you could find out and know that they were telling the information in a way to make you agree or disagree with them.