[WikiEN-l] "Can you trust Wikipedia?"

[Andrew Lih]

You are all missing the bigger story - what baseline are they
comparing against for a "10" rating? The numbers are virtually
meaningless unless you compare against what other encyclopedias
provide (like Encarta or Britannica).

Here's a simple example - Steve Reich. It got a "7" even though the
reviewer Mike Barnes said, "Factually, the entry on the composer Steve
Reich is sound. All the facts that I have cross-checked were correct,
but some of the writing is unhelpful... But with the Reich entry
itself, and the links to other minimalist composers' entries and
websites, one can access an impressive amount of information quickly."

To me, an educator, that would not merit a "C" grade, which is what I
would consider a 7/10. How about the others?

On Encarta, it's behind the paid firewall.
On Britannica, also behind a paid firewall, but the description:
	Reich, Steve... (75 of 234 words)
On Wikipedia, around 1900 words, not including external links and
notable works list.

I would find it hard to believe Mike Barnes could give Britannica more
than a 3/10 just based on the length. It would be interesting to see
how many words Encarta has.

-Andrew (User:Fuzheado)



On 10/25/05, Neil Harris <usenet at tonal.clara.co.uk> wrote:
> The Guardian has a story entitled "Can you trust Wikipedia?" in which
> various specialists rate Wikipedia articles in their field of knowledge:
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1599116,00.html
>
> At the very least, it will draw attention to the articles reviewed,
> particularly the article on [[haute couture]], which Vogue's editor
> rated at 0/10.
>
> Noted Wikipedia critic Robert McHenry rates the [[Encylopedia]] article
> at 5/10: not nearly good enough, but it's a start... it might well be
> worthwhile to try to improve Wikipedia's McHenry Index by improving the
> quality of this article, and backing up its statement with solid cites.
> Downplaying the self-reference to Wikipedia own fabulousness might be a
> useful first step.
>
> The other article ratings were:
>
> [[Steve Reich]] 7/10
> [[Basque people]] 7/10
> [[TS Eliot]] 6/10
> [[Samuel Pepys]] 6/10
> [[Bob Dylan]] 8/10
>
> A friend forwarded me a link to this; they have an interest in one of
> the fields reviewed, and commented that they were somewhat dubious about
> the factual accuracy of one of the criticisms made in the article ;-)
>
> -- Neil
>
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