Wikipedia

It's hard to believe that Wikipedia has only been around since January 2001. It began as an offshoot of Nupedia, a project started to produce a free encyclopedia. Wikipedia is made up of the terms wiki and encyclopedia.

I find Wikipedia very handy. If I don't know a term, I will often check it out in Wikipedia, especially if I want more than just a dictionary definition. Most of the time, the information in Wikipedia seems pretty accurate to me. Once, I was working on a school reader about Dance in America and had to look up terms like rock 'n roll, lindy hop, jitterbug, cake walk, etc. What I found in Wikipedia matched the information I found elsewhere. Sometimes I had difficulty locating printed material and was glad Wikipedia was there. I could usually tell just by perusing an article if it seemed well written and factual.

And so I was interested in an article in American Libraries, August 2008, called "Dissecting the Web Through Wikipedia." It recommends using Wikipedia as a starting point in research and not demonizing the site. Students will use Wikipedia, so librarians can use it to teach students to evaluate and use critical thinking skills when regarding information. Its articles' lists of source materials can lead to valuable information. Students can compare the information in the Wikipedia article to information in the source material and compare accuracy. Students may come to the conclusion that some Wikipedia articles are well researched and others have abundant errors. What students will learn in this process is how to reach these conclusions.

Students can be taught how to look for biases and for the credentials of the author of the Wikipedia article. The student can ask - does the information in this article match what I already know about this subject? Students can learn how to gather sources and information that will support the Wikipedia article or refute it. In this way, Wikipedia can be brought into the discussion of research and, in the process, students will become familiar with the library OPACs and other online tools for finding journal articles and other source materials.

Following this article is a short one called, "A Call for Sense." In it, Jack Baur asks if librarians' badmouthing of Wikipedia is really necessary. He says that we all know Wikipedia can be edited by anyone and can be imperfect. But he says that he is shocked when librarians tell patrons absolutely not to use the site. Some librarians are even thinking of blocking access to the site in schools and libraries. He asks how librarians can convince the world that we are technologically savvy while we trash one of the biggest of the Web 2.0 phenomenon. He says it often does provide a good introduction to a subject and the articles link to other valuable sources. He points out that we don't try to ban other tools that we have.

I find that I agree with Jack Baur and the author of the earlier article, Adam Bennington. I have to agree that I find Wikipedia useful. Having been taught how to research in college years ago, I do know how to find information I need for a topic in the "old" ways. We need to make sure we pass these basic research tools and techniques on to our students and patrons. But Wikipedia can have a place in this research. And perhaps some of out patrons/students will end up contributing to the on-going work that is Wikipedia and being proud of that.