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December 6, 2005
Hot Dish
We Midwesterners know a good hot dish when we see one. We also know a bad hot dish. Wikipedia, the free, online encyclopedia edited by all contributors, is somewhere in between. It’s good because there are nearly 1 million entries on just about any topic you can imagine. It’s also good because of its communal nature – you and I can contribute to the collective knowledge.
But when people take advantage of the collective (or are perceived to take advantage), all hell breaks loose, as it did over the past week with two separate issues.
Adam Curry, yes, that Adam Curry, he of the hair-band lid, vjay background and proclaimed Podfather, entered Wikipedia to edit the entry on podcasting. Immediately, some claimed he edited history. He claims he’s reporting his version of the truth.
A more egregious incident occurred this week when it was suggested in a Wikipedia entry that John Seigenthaler, Sr., former advisor to Robert Kennedy in the early 1960s, was involved in the assassinations of Kennedy and his brother, John F. Kennedy. Seigenthaler repudiated the claim in an op-ed piece in USA Today.
Because of these incidents, Wikipedia is requiring contributors to register, which, of course, won’t stop people from submitting erroneous entries. Wikipedia is based on a common trust among contributors.
I’ll still use Wikipedia. But, like any good journalist, I’ll double-check my information before it’s used.
BTW, as I submit this entry, Seigenthaler is being interviewed on NPR's "Talk of the Nation."
Posted by Rich Sharp at December 6, 2005 11:19 AM