Thought this would be of interest to people not on WikiEN-l as well.
-- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com)
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [WikiEN-l] More evidence of Wikipedia's success Date: Wed, 5 May 2004 10:16:29 -0500 From: Sheldon Rampton <sheldon.rampton at verizon.net>
May 05, 2004
Research Shows Media Increasingly Cite Wikipedia as Credible Source
A fascinating paper presented by Andrew Lih, an Assistant Professor at Hong Kong University, at the University of Texas at Austin's recent International Symposium on Online Journalism analyzes how Wikipedia's articles are increasingly cited in the media and as a credible source. Wikipedia is a popular Internet-based, user contributed encyclopedia that is collaboratively edited.
"Wikipedia as Participatory Journalism: Reliable Sources?" (PDF) is the equivalent of The Pelican Brief for the public relations industry. It's a must read for any PR pro trying - as I am - to understand the impact that participatory/citizen journalism will have on our profession. It provides clear metrics that show how Wikipedia has quickly emerged as a media influencer. During a 14 month period (Jan. 03 - Mar. 04), according to the research, 113 Wikipedia articles were referred to by various news outlets.
http://steverubel.typepad.com/micropersuasion/2004/05/research_reveal.html
http://journalism.utexas.edu/onlinejournalism/wikipedia.pdf
--Sheldon Rampton
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