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

[Brian]

On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 7:31 PM, Brian <Brian.Mingus at colorado.edu> wrote:

>
>
> 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.
>


Or perhaps it is a reputation score - my memory is fuzzy.