Screen
capture of my Wikipedia entry about Life Course Appoach. Screen
capture from:
Susan Nielsen, personal collection. Original article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_course_approach, Accessed
Mar. 23, 2012.
Wikipedia is a great source of information; it is often called the "online encyclopedia" and is known for giving very general information to anyone who is interested in looking. Although, it is very important to consider that the information on Wikipedia can be edited and posted by anyone from around the world who has a Wikipedia username. Throughout this assignment, I have realized how easy it truly is for anyone to post on Wikipedia. For example: everyone in our class was able to successfully add to a stub on Wikipedia about any subject that they wanted to, even though no one in our class is well qualified in the subject areas (most of us do not even have a degree yet). Therefore, when looking at and searching information on the Wikipedia website, we need to think critically about the information that is being presented and not accept everything as being fact. The information from Wikipedia may not be reliable, as well, it may not be valid. This has also been noted by Clara Tran in her ALES 204 wiki blog post.
Overall, Wikipedia is a great source of information for anyone interested in doing a quick search for information that is not going to be used for scholarly purposes - such as: looking up who the 5th prime minister was, or what breed of dog to adopt. As well, Wikipedia is a great social media tool for people around the world with mutual interests to share their ideas with the world through the use of this online encyclopedia.
Hi Susan!
ReplyDeleteI really like how you explored the issue of reliability when using Wikipedia as a source of information. Even when there are a number of individuals contributing to a single article, the reliability of the references that are used still have to be considered. As such, I definitely agree that Wikipedia is great for quick searches that might be out of personal interest or quick reference, but maybe not for research papers or anything that requires the highest degree of reliability.
Great post, Susan! Just based on the screen shots, it looks like you did a lot of work with that stub.
Hey Susan,
ReplyDeleteI really like the way that you have argued that Wikipedia as a social media tool. It is something that I have never considered before, even with taking this class on communications. Rather than looking at the online encyclopedia as something that it set in stone, it really is a method of sharing information. just like Facebook, Twitter, and Blogging. Although it has to be read critically, it provides a good basis for so many different topics. Thanks for your great article on the life course and blog post!
-Rebecca