Monday, September 22, 2008

UGC , Certified by Anyone?



2004 marked my first visit to United Stated to pursue my college degree. During my first month, I was introduced to Wikipedia.

I was not aware of the fact that anyone can post/adjust information on Wikipedia, so I took all the information on this website for granted. Later on I was notified by my Professor in Georgetown University not to use Wikipedia as a source to cite from.

The reason was because Wikipedia (in my Professor's opinion), is NOT an entirely credible source. In fact, I took a course that was dedicated to "sources". From this course, I learned different techniques to define a credible source.

As for Wikipedia, I learned that there is a committee that is responsible of the credibility of the information posted website. Still, it is NOT OK. I know, it is checked but : by whom?

My intention is to seek credible information from the internet. Please please and please feel free to comment on my blog, I will appreciate your feedback .

Thank you

Wikipedia on YouTube

Image was downloaded from www.smh.com.au

8 comments:

Julie said...
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Julie said...
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Julie said...

Hi Yousif !

Thanks for the link to the Youtube video in your post...
Thanks to you, I heard a very funny thing "Wikipedia, like communism only works in theory"...
What is that supposed to mean?

I get the similarities about the sharing of everybody's resources, and the fact that everybody is supposed to be contributing for the people's sake...and in fact, it is all being ruled by a few people...

But come on! That's lame... We often think about communism as being the opposite of democracy.
But isn't Wikipedia democratic?
Not if you can remove some people's contribution I guess; but...

Whether you use it to find information, to give information, or just to make fun of it, just don't take everything it says for granted and you'll be fine!And if you don't like it, don't use it...
You are not forced into the system.
Guarantee of Freedom of speech...that is democracy...

What do you think?

And don't forget to come and visit my blog !!!
http://frenchyme.blogspot.com

onyee4ejimuda said...

Hi Yousif,
From the video in your blog, it says it all. Sites like Wikipedia are not reliable for serious information like ones you could use for your term paper. Just like Eric Feola said, some topics are more restricted in Wikipedia than others but I'm wondering which is which? Nice sharing because I'm sure that as surprising as this may sound, some people don't know about this.

Song said...

Wow, I didn't know that. Is it really that Wikipedia is not reliable? Thats interesting. I totally trust about that site. After read your blog post, I can have chance to think about the confidence in the Internet. Thank you!

diggersf said...

I use Wikipedia as a starting point for basic research, but I never cite it.

There are some cases where information on the Internet can lead to personal injury. I was recently reading some information about bicycle repair when I came across some comments on a blog post. One poster insisted that you must ride against the flow of traffic, while another said the opposite. You should, in fact, ride with the flow of traffic, but someone could get hurt if they took the first posters advice.

Yooousif said...

Dear all,

Thanks for your comments.

Thank you for sharing your opinion and point-of-view. No doubt, we all share close views about Wikipedia.

I would like to add a thought which was triggered by all of you specially by "diggersf".

Dear diggersf,

I'm sure that if you search for statistical data from a credible source such as the US department of transportation, you will have hard evidence to support your conclusion:

"You should, in fact, ride with the flow of traffic,"

None of us is immune from personal injuries. However, I believe there is a more destructive harm. One that cannot be measured in monetary value or in numbers. The saddest part is that it cannot be stopped and it is not an accident.

PLAGIARISM

Na Rae said...

Wikipedia is not 100% reliable, but it is useful when you want to know recent hot issues and newborn words.

In Korea, people prefer Naver Ji Sik In to find something(Actually, we barely use wikipedia) It is collection of Q&A, everyone write to question on that, and someone answer it. So, Naver Ji Sik In have many baseless information. But, database getting bigger and bigger, and Naver hired experts to answer the question. Now, incorrect, baseless informations adjusted. Naver Ji Sik In is more reliable, useful information source than before, and yet, we can't trust 100% of it.