reading #4

The answer to the question, “can wikipedia ever make the grade?” is not a question with a simple answer. The online encyclopedia that can be used by anyone with internet access and can also be updated and have information added by anyone with internet access has had a reputation for supplying many false statements and false information. However, recent studies are showing that the information on wikipedia is actually fairly accurate and is almost as accurate as the encyclopedia Britannica. A study performed by the journal Nature, showed that the average amount of errors in an encyclopedia Britannica article was three while the wikipedia only averaged four. Alexander M.C. Halavais, an assistant professor of communications at Quinnipiac College tried to design his own experiment to see how well wikipedia edited information added by adding articles with completely false information and bogus stats. The errors he added in his articles were found within hours and deleted from the site, showing that wikipedia is trying hard to become a credible source of information that can be used in research and not seen as an error filled source of information.
If professors and scholars would help by adding their research or helping share their knowledge on wikipedia the site would become a much more credible source and could rid itself of its bad reputation. Of the 40,000 contributing members only about 1,000 list themselves as graduate students and hardly any list themselves as professors. If more scholars add information then the information will be more accurate and trustworthy which will help wikipedia make the grade it desires to obtain.