[WikiEN-l] Wikipedia trumps Britannica

[Carcharoth]

On Tue, May 4, 2010 at 10:34 AM, Keith Old <keithold at 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