[WikiEN-l] Wired: Wikipedia to Color Code Untrustworthy Text

[Brian]

On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 6:24 PM, Keith Old <keithold at gmail.com> wrote:

> Folks,
>
> http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/wikitrust/
>
> Wired reports:
>
>
> *"Starting this fall, you’ll have a new reason to trust the information you
> find on Wikipedia: An optional feature called “WikiTrust” will color code
> every word of the encyclopedia based on the reliability of its author and
> the length of time it has persisted on the page.*
>
> *More than 60 million people visit the free, open-access encyclopedia each
> month, searching for knowledge on 12 million pages in 260 languages. But
> despite its popularity,
> **Wikipedia*<
> http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/wikitrust/www.wikipedia.org>
> * has long suffered criticism from those who say it’s not reliable. Because
> anyone with an internet connection can contribute, the site is subject to
> vandalism, bias and misinformation. And edits are anonymous, so there’s no
> easy way to separate credible information from fake content created by
> vandals.*
>
> *Now, researchers from the **Wiki Lab* <http://trust.cse.ucsc.edu/>* at
> the
> University of California, Santa Cruz have created a system to help users
> know when to trust Wikipedia—and when to reach for that dusty Encyclopedia
> Britannica on the shelf. Called
> **WikiTrust*<http://wikitrust.soe.ucsc.edu/index.php/Main_Page>
> *, the program assigns a color code to newly edited text using an algorithm
> that calculates author reputation from the lifespan of their past
> contributions. It’s based on a simple concept: The longer information
> persists on the page, the more accurate it’s likely to be.*
>
> *Text from questionable sources starts out with a bright orange background,
> while text from trusted authors gets a lighter shade. As more people view
> and edit the new text, it gradually gains more “trust” and turns from
> orange
> to white."*
>
> More in story
>
> *Regards*
>
> **
>
> *Keith*
>


What's interesting about WikiTrust is that a trust score is computed for
each individual. I wonder if these will be made public, and if so, how they
will change the community of editors.  It seems likely that they will not be
made public. However, since the algorithm is published and I believe the
source code as well anyone with the hardware could compute and publish how
trusted each community member is.