Confession time: I love Wikipedia. I don't know what it is in particular that makes me love it so much, but I love it. The design is so simple and uniform for every article. The site is extremely easy to search through and read. The writing of the articles is, for the most part, very clear. Now, I might be a little bias because I have actually written a sentence for one the articles (go to the Beatnik article, and find the sentence "In the animated television series, Doug, Doug's older sister, Judy Funnie, is characterized as a beatnik." That was me. It has an embedded link and everything), so I find that particularly exciting. But on a serious note, I truly find Wikipedia to be an excellent source for material.
Now we all know that it may not be an entirely reliable source for academia (CERTAINLY not something you would want to cite in any paper or presentation), but I turned to it just today to learn more about a new band I've been listening to because some of the band's biggest and most dedicated fans update the Wikipedia page, so they tell me what I want to know.
One thing that I love about the site, that the article mentions, is just how reliable the information is even considering that anybody can be its author. "Wikipedia is an online community devoted [...] to a higher good." However, "it is also no more immune to humane nature than any other utopian project" (Schiff). This is why it can never be completed accepted among the masses. Because anyone and everyone can update or edit the articles, there is a difficulty in the regulation. It's hard to know what is actually truth and what is the brain child of some forty-something couch potato (probably still living with his mom) who thinks he knows everything there is to know about Black Sabbath.
But to me, Wikipedia will always be my number one go-to site for quick searches to end disputes or finally settle my brain about where Liam Neeson was born. In the end,"Wikipedia offers endless opportunites for self-expression. It is the love child of reading groups and chat room, a second home for anyone who has written an Amazon review" (Schiff).
I like that you pointed out the simplicity of the website! I also love it and never really thought about why..but now I realize it's so easy to use! Information is in a particular order, sources at the bottom, it's simple!
ReplyDeleteI do like the formatting. It's especially convenient when I want to know an army officer's rank and tour of duty or the succession of a British monarch--the information is always in the same place (box on the right)for easy comparisons.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I'm impressed to have a "published author" in our class!
Definitely. I think the formatting is one of the reasons that I like it so much. It's so CLEAN looking and everything is right where it always is.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks! I'm pretty proud of my work :)
I agree that Wiki is clean to a point, but it all depends on how much information is on the page as you are looking. Sometimes I feel like I am overwhelmed and just want to give up looking for my object of interest. This being said if the page is not cluttered then it is usually easily found and then I'm off on the next adventure of information cruising, but that is not always the case.
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