Wikipedia is a Wonderful Tool
Wikipedia has rapidly grown into the
largest reference website on the Internet. It epitomises all that is
good (and bad) about the internet - here's what makes it an awesome tool for
business or at home:
- It has a large number of active writers and editors in many
languages, Wikipedia often provides access and breadth on subject matter
that is otherwise inaccessible or little documented.
- Wikipedia often produces excellent encyclopaedic articles and
resources covering newsworthy events within hours or days of their
occurrence.
- Wikipedia is one of few sites even attempting neutral, objective,
encyclopaedic coverage of popular culture.
- The Western-centric bias found in many Western publications is
significantly reduced on Wikipedia.
- In comparison with most web-based resources, Wikipedia's open
approach tremendously increases the chances that any particular factual
error or misleading statement will be relatively promptly corrected.
- There is no one central point where censorship can be imposed, and
therefore censorship by any given group, restriction to "officially
reported" sources, or "pushing" of any particular viewpoint, whether
official or unofficial, is difficult to achieve and almost always fails
after a time.
- In contrast with many web resources, information added to Wikipedia
never "vanishes", and is never "lost" or deleted.
The content of Wikipedia is free , written collaboratively by people from
all around the world. The website is a wiki , which means that
anyone with access to an Internet-connected computer can edit,
correct, or improve information throughout the encyclopaedia, simply by
clicking the edit this page link.
In every article, links will guide you to associated articles, often with
additional information. You are can even add further information,
cross-references, or citations yourself.
Because Wikipedia is an ongoing work to which in principle anybody can
contribute, it differs from a paper-based reference source in some very
important ways. In particular, older articles tend to be more comprehensive
and balanced, while newer articles may still contain significant
misinformation, unencyclopaedic content, or vandalism.
I love Wikipedia, it's always interesting - take a look - is your
favourite place listed in Wikipedia?
© Spiral Web Design Limited
May 2006
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