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3.3: Wikipedia- Below the Surface (Video-Duckett, et al.)

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    Wikipedia- Below the Surface Video Transcript

    00:00 Wikipedia has quickly become the world's largest encyclopedia

    00:03 and one of the most visited websites.

    00:05 But how does information get into Wikipedia in the first place?

    00:09 There's a lot to discover when you scratch beneath the surface.

    00:12 Wikipedia is a wiki, a special kind of website

    00:15 that allows many people to contribute to the content.

    00:18 The word wiki means "quick" in Hawaiian.

    00:22 The name comes from the fact that on the most basic level a wiki is a quick way

    00:25 to make a web page.

    00:27 Wikis help people collaborate online.

    00:29 This means that a group of people can contribute information to a wiki

    00:33 without seeing each other face to face.

    00:35 Although Wikipedia is the most well-known and ambitious wiki,

    00:38 there are plenty of other specialized wikis that exist for collaborative research and just

    00:42 about anything else you can imagine.

    00:44 Many wikis are limited to specific groups of people, but Wikipedia allows anyone in the world

    00:50 to create an account, sign in, and then contribute to the information on a topic.

    00:55 That includes you.

    00:56 A Wikipedia page is set up with several sections: the Article,

    01:01 Discussion, Edit, and History tabs.

    01:04 The information you read in Wikipedia is on the "Article" tab.

    01:08 This is where the voices of many different volunteer authors merge together

    01:11 into an overview of the subject that anyone in the world can read.

    01:15 On a Wikipedia page - like this page on Gun Politics - the authors work together

    01:20 to present background information on the topic.

    01:23 A good page will also include references to other information sources so readers know

    01:27 where the knowledge is coming from.

    01:29 These references point people to information that's been published in books,

    01:33 newspapers,journals,and on websites.

    01:37 Wikipedia has some key guidelines to help the volunteer authors.

    01:40 The first is "No Original Research."

    01:43 Unlike books and journal articles where researchers publish their original ideas,

    01:47 experiments, and theories, Wikipedia provides background information gathered

    01:52 from information sources published elsewhere.

    01:55 Additionally, Wikipedia's guidelines emphasize

    01:58 that all content should present a "Neutral Point of View."

    02:01 This is always a challenge, especially for controversial topics and many pages

    02:06 in Wikipedia have warning messages indicating that the content is biased.

    02:10 One of the most important aspects of Wikipedia is that the content can evolve over time.

    02:16 When there are many different authors creating, updating, and deleting content,

    02:20 the information might be in flux.

    02:22 But one benefit of the shifting nature of Wikipedia is that people from all

    02:26 over the world can contribute to what is known and understood about a topic.

    02:30 In fact information can be developed in Wikipedia more quickly for an event

    02:33 as it is happening than newspapers can publish it.

    02:37 At the same time, since Wikipedia's content can be in flux, authors might change the information

    02:43 to reflect their personal views and introduce bias.

    02:46 As a result, it can be challenging to keep a neutral point of view

    02:49 when many people are offering their ideas to the content.

    02:52 It's clear that authors will bring their opinions

    02:55 to a Wikipedia page whether they intend to or not.

    02:58 In the Discussion tab of a Wikipedia page you will often find lively debate about the content.

    03:08 Authors leave notes for each other about the changes they've made to the content

    03:11 and they debate about how the information should be presented.

    03:14 This is where you do see individual voices and, many times,

    03:18 they've got definite opinions to share.

    03:20 So unlike the main article page, the Discussion page is the for personal opinion.

    03:25 By looking through the Discussion, you can sometimes learn just as much

    03:28 about the sensitive areas of a topic as you could by checking the main content.

    03:32 In the History tab, you can see every change that's been made to a Wikipedia page

    03:37 and some indication of who made it.

    03:39 Sometimes it's a user name.

    03:41 At other times you just see the IP address of the person's computer.

    03:46 But who are they?

    03:47 There are more than 75,000 active contributors to Wikipedia

    03:53 and the number is growing all the time.

    03:56 Additionally, Wikipedia has a few administrators who have higher editing powers.

    04:01 These administrators can delete pages if the topic isn't considered important enough.

    04:06 They can also flag pages with notes about the quality of the content.

    04:10 One of the controversial aspects of Wikipedia is that it's impossible to tell anything

    04:16 about the authors, including their level of expertise on a topic.

    04:19 Someone might be the world's leading expert on a topic

    04:22 or they might be your next-door neighbor who just has a strong opinion.

    04:26 Wikipedia challenges the way some people define "expert" and it equalizes the opportunity

    04:30 for all people to share what they know.

    04:33 For some people loosening up the concept of who's an "expert" is a good thing.

    04:37 For others, it's a threat to the accuracy and validity of information.

    04:41 The fact that Wikipedia authors are anonymous makes the content different from books,

    04:46 journals, magazines, and newspapers.

    04:48 In these publications the author's name is on the line in terms

    04:51 of the quality and the accuracy of their work.

    04:54 These sources have gone through formal editing and peer review process

    04:57 to assure the quality and accuracy of the information.

    05:00 Wikipedia doesn't have this same kind of formal review process.

    05:03 Instead, it relies on anonymous authors to keep each other in check so the content is presented

    05:08 in a fair, neutral, and balanced way.

    05:10 Sometimes it succeeds and sometimes it fails.

    05:13 But how accurate is Wikipedia?

    05:19 Well, in 2006 the journal Nature, an important science research journal, conducted a study.

    05:25 It showed that the Encyclopaedia Britannica is only slightly more reliable

    05:28 than Wikipedia when it comes to science topics.

    05:31 When expert scientists reviewed fifty different topics,

    05:34 Wikipedia averaged about four errors per entry.

    05:36 Britannica averaged three.

    05:38 But at the same time, other critics point

    05:41 out that Wikipedia pages often point to insufficient references.

    05:45 And Wikipedia itself cautions users that Wikipedia articles aren't complete

    05:50 when they're first started, and they may contain false or debatable information.

    05:54 In fact, some pages start out pretty biased before the volunteer authors can work towards

    05:58 consensus and a neutral point of view.

    06:01 So keep in mind that Wikipedia is an evolving information resource.

    06:07 The information shifts and changes.

    06:09 Beneath the surface is a thriving community of people who work together

    06:13 to make information available on a topic, but it's impossible

    06:16 to determine if they are experts.

    06:19 Wikipedia is a jumping off point into other sources - like books,

    06:22 articles, newspaper articles and websites.

    06:26 Use it for background information, but dig deeper...and search wider too.

     


    3.3: Wikipedia- Below the Surface (Video-Duckett, et al.) is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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