College students prefer wikipedia, but is it ok?

Posted on by Chris Salazar

Wikipedia, probably one of the first successful wikis to hit the internet, is cutting down on community involvement! Wikipedia now focuses "revises its anyone can edit" policy and laying down some ground rules.

Is this a bad thing? Well, it does limit our involvement with wikipedia and it no longer is the same wiki it started off as. It was very successful, despite reports that some information is biased or not factual, and it will continue to spread throughout the internet.

Who is the biggest participant (i.e editors)? Experts!

Who is (IMO) the biggest user? COLLEGE STUDENTS

I am not sure about schools outside of the Bay Area, but wikipedia is highly used by colleges and universities (especially Santa Clara University). AND, these new rules and guidelines will limit the expert's subjective opinion, and instead become more objective, which will benefit them in the long run!

Wikipedia needs to establish its credibility in academia, once this is achieved, there is no stopping it. I use wikipedia first when starting a research paper, then I might Google the subject matter. But, honestly, I do not really like googling subjects, TOO MUCH INFO!

Advantages of these new guidelines and revised policy:

  • Wikipedia will "earn" credibility first with academia
    • Once academia embraces wikipedia, it will be used by everyone (like Google)
  • Experts who edit wikipedia will be focused on providing usable and factual info
  • College students with have a one-stop resource center
    • Perhaps competition for Google
      • I type in wikipedia FIRST, before going to Google
    • Or perhaps an alliance between Google and Wikipedia
  • Wikipedia will continue to pave the way for this new form of communication
    • Its only a matter of time

Read more about what others are saying about wikipedia:

I invite your opinion on the road for wikipedia…

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Is there life ahead for wikipedia?

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