On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 10:34 AM, Keith Old keithold@gmail.com wrote:
Folks,
According to John Graham-Cumming, Wikipedia is a better resource for researchers than Britannica.
http://newstilt.com/notthatkindofdoctor/news/wikipedia-trumps-britannia
http://newstilt.com/notthatkindofdoctor/news/wikipedia-trumps-britannia
Thanks for the link to this story.
One bit stood out:
"Because Wikipedia has a policy of linking to reliable sources it turned out to be a wonderful starting point for research."
That sums up the usefulness of Wikipedia where sources are provided.
Of course, you still need to check those sources, and unsourced material is a less helpful starting point than sourced material, but all this is key to how to use Wikipedia.
The ending quote sums it up nicely as well:
"I never relied on Wikipedia as the sole source of information, but it was always a marvellous spring board to get me started."
Perfect summary.
Source-aggregator, sometimes with well-written text and nice images as well.
Though you have to be wary in some areas of editorialising and source-selection issues.
Carcharoth