[Yulpub] Wikipedia founder discourages its use

[Suzanne Lorimer]

<http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=1328>Wikipedia Founder 
Discourages Academic Use of His Creation

<http://www.wikipedia.org/>Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia compiled by a 
distributed network of volunteers, has often come under attack by academics 
as being shoddy and full of inaccuracies. Even Wikipedia's founder, Jimmy 
Wales, says he wants to get the message out to college students that they 
shouldn't use it for class projects or serious research. Speaking at a 
conference at the University of Pennsylvania on Friday called 
<http://hyperlinkedsociety.asc.upenn.edu/>"The Hyperlinked Society," Mr. 
Wales said that he gets about 10 e-mail messages a week from students who 
complain that Wikipedia has gotten them into academic hot water. "They say, 
'Please help me. I got an F on my paper because I cited Wikipedia'" and the 
information turned out to be wrong, he says. But he said he has no sympathy 
for their plight, noting that he thinks to himself: "For God sake, you're 
in college; don't cite the encyclopedia." Mr. Wales said that leaders of 
Wikipedia have considered putting together a fact sheet that professors 
could give out to students explaining what Wikipedia is and that it is not 
always a definitive source. "It is pretty good, but you have to be careful 
with it," he said. "It's good enough knowledge, depending on what your 
purpose is." In an interview, Mr. Wales said that Wikipedia is ideal for 
many uses. If you are reading a novel that mentions the Battle of the 
Bulge, for instance, you could use Wikipedia to get a quick basic overview 
of the historical event to understand the context. But students writing a 
paper about the battle should hit the history books.


Suzanne Lorimer
Coordinator of Research Services
226 Sterling Memorial Library, Yale University
P.O. Box 208240
New Haven, CT  06520-8240
(phone) 203-432-8371  (fax) 203-432-8527
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