Reading Report #2

I found this article to be very interesting. Wikipedia is an vast online encyclopedia that is created by anyone on the web that desires to add their input. There is a ton of controversy surrounding Wikipedia, especially among scholars and professors. However, Wikipedia is working on improving the information system and bettering the facts that are added to the site. This was proved by a professor named Alexander M.C. Halavais. He decided to insert thirteen random and false facts throughout the system to see how long it would take for the falsifications to be deleted or noticed at all. Some of the falsifications were blatantly obvious and others were not. It took Wikipedia professionals only three hours to root out the falsifications as well as send him an email about posting information that was not valid. This was an impressive feat for the professor. However, other scholars have not been so easily impressed. Michael Gorman is one of these skeptics. He does not agree with the fact that people other than scholars are able to contribute information to the system. Scholars like Larry Sanger agree with Gorman and have developed a similar site that consists of information that is only posted by academic scholars. Many still argue that Wikipedia is unique in the fact that anybody can contribute to the system, making the information system immense. The Wikipedia crew however, is trying to focus their attention less on the vastness of the program and more on the quality of content in order to win the approval of skeptical scholars and professors.