Wikipedia use open to debate
By: Sravanthi Dama
Issue date: 4/27/07 Section: News
Originally published: 4/27/07 at 3:56 AM EST
Last update: 4/27/07 at 3:56 AM EST
Originally published: 4/27/07 at 3:56 AM EST
Last update: 4/27/07 at 3:56 AM EST
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In early 2007, Sen. Ted Stevens introduced Senate Bill No. 49 that may ban access to Wikipedia and other interactive Web sites in any school or library that receives federal Internet subsidies. Preston Galla of Computer World Blogs writes "its greatest irony would be banning Wikipedia - perhaps the most widely used reference resource in the world - from libraries and schools."
"It's understandable for the government to want to ban networking sites in school if they have proven to be distractions to learning. But Wikipedia is an actual source of knowledge that students use for academic purposes and it'd be stupid to ban it," said Ann Chen, a third-year pharmacological sciences major at St. John's University in Queens, N.Y.
The idea for Wikipedia arose in 2000 through the combined efforts of Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. The two sought to pursue the creation of a "less formal encyclopedia project" that would be freely offered to the public. Since, Wikipedia has billed itself as a "multilingual, web-based, free-content encyclopedia." It is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Company that also controls Wikitionary, Wikinews, Wikiquotes and Wikibooks.
By May 2001, Wikipedias were launched in a multitude of languages including Chinese, German, French, Hebrew, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. According to Wikipedia's Web site, there are currently over 75,000 active contributors who work on over 5.3 million articles. Of these articles, approximately 1.7 million are in the English language and more articles are added everyday.
"It's understandable for the government to want to ban networking sites in school if they have proven to be distractions to learning. But Wikipedia is an actual source of knowledge that students use for academic purposes and it'd be stupid to ban it," said Ann Chen, a third-year pharmacological sciences major at St. John's University in Queens, N.Y.
The idea for Wikipedia arose in 2000 through the combined efforts of Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. The two sought to pursue the creation of a "less formal encyclopedia project" that would be freely offered to the public. Since, Wikipedia has billed itself as a "multilingual, web-based, free-content encyclopedia." It is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Company that also controls Wikitionary, Wikinews, Wikiquotes and Wikibooks.
By May 2001, Wikipedias were launched in a multitude of languages including Chinese, German, French, Hebrew, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. According to Wikipedia's Web site, there are currently over 75,000 active contributors who work on over 5.3 million articles. Of these articles, approximately 1.7 million are in the English language and more articles are added everyday.
David Monniaux
posted 4/27/07 @ 3:18 PM EST
"In an attempt to guard against misinformation, Wikipedia does employ editors who read articles and correct apparent mistakes."
False. The Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia is not a legal entity, the Foundation is the legal entity behind Wikipedia) does not employ any editor. (Continued…)