Are you catching on?
Wikipedia, the online world's first free and user-editable encyclopedia, has recently exploded throughout the world. With limited success in the past I'd used Google.com, Bartleby.com and Dictionary.com when doing research. It was on a recent research project where I'd needed the use of a translator (freetranslation.com) and an encyclopedia that I was thrilled to find that Wikipedia can, to some degree, perform both functions and get me faster results.
Wikipedia is expanding around the globe, people are entering information in English, German, Japanese, Portuguese, French and Polish. Even the tiny country of Denmark can get their information in Danish if they want it.
I was turned onto Wikipedia last winter when I was doing my election research and was very pleased when all Canadian federal candidates were listed on the site. However the candidate for whom I was working as a Media Advisor had a dead link (no more information available). Quickly, I pulled together Rob's bio and did a wikipedia tutorial on formatting. Within hours I felt I'd solidified the candidate's message, given him online presense (the majority of people now do their election research online) and most importantly, increased access to him for those looking online.
Throughout the candidate page I entered my own links - since that is the beauty of Wiki - and hope that someday all my links will turn from dead end red to boundless blue. I'd encourage you all to jump on board if you have some specific expertise worth sharing. Keep in mind, one important value, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, it is not meant for editorial or the expression of beliefs, just the facts. A site is only as good as its weakest link.
Wikipedia is expanding around the globe, people are entering information in English, German, Japanese, Portuguese, French and Polish. Even the tiny country of Denmark can get their information in Danish if they want it.
I was turned onto Wikipedia last winter when I was doing my election research and was very pleased when all Canadian federal candidates were listed on the site. However the candidate for whom I was working as a Media Advisor had a dead link (no more information available). Quickly, I pulled together Rob's bio and did a wikipedia tutorial on formatting. Within hours I felt I'd solidified the candidate's message, given him online presense (the majority of people now do their election research online) and most importantly, increased access to him for those looking online.
Throughout the candidate page I entered my own links - since that is the beauty of Wiki - and hope that someday all my links will turn from dead end red to boundless blue. I'd encourage you all to jump on board if you have some specific expertise worth sharing. Keep in mind, one important value, Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, it is not meant for editorial or the expression of beliefs, just the facts. A site is only as good as its weakest link.
posted by sookie at 14:38
1 Comments:
Hmmm, I've never really considered contributing to Wikipedia before, but that could actually be fun. Because naurally the world needs to hear more from me.
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