Wikipedia

Virgil Griffith

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Wikipedia is is a very well known online source by most most people, but is it accurate? Virgil Griffith, a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology, has put wikipedia accuracy to the test by creating a scanner that can actually trace the source from where wikipedia edits are being made. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that anyone can edit or make postings. In ways this is a good thing because you get a high range of different oponions, but in alot of cases people are using this tool to misrepresent the truth, or edit any harmful comments made by other people. Although, making edits to this online encyclopedia is not illegal it can really effect the accuracy of the information on wikipedia.People could make edits to certain cites, and choose to stay unannomous, until Virgil Griffith created this scanner. Now when people make changes to cites they can be traced back to the source it was made from. Although, the name of the person's name will not be shown it can show where the edit was comming from for example a computer in a certain company. Some examples are companies like Dow chemical who deleted an entire section labled Enviromental and Human Rights Controversies. Also, Debold an electronic voting system company was traced back to have deleted ten whole paragraphs of critisizim and conterversy of their company. Wal-mart is another example where a statement was edited to make wages of the company sound better than they really are. These are all examples that clearly show that Wikipedia might not be as reliable and accurate as you think. Although, there are some negative aspects of wikipedia I did notice some postive aspects. For example wikipedia has created a hyperlink to some words that you might need further definitions or examples of which I think is very very helpful.
For example you might me reasearching what what is made up of and they will have hyperlinks to hydrogyn and oxogyn and their definitions. Another thing I like about wikipedia is the mass amount of information it retains, and the different perspectives. Wikipedia is one of the largest search engines, and you can find pretty much anything you are looking for in minutes. Through the addition of the scanner, I think it will improve wikipedia's accuracy in a sense because people can no longer hide behind their edits, but I think the problem will always exist. To prevent virgils scanner from determing what company the edits are comming from the company simply just to use a computer that is outside of the company itself. SO if for example exon wants to delete or edit remarks all they would have to do is go to the local coffee shop down the road that has internet access and change the information. So I do believe the wikipedia scanner will scare and intimidate some editors to think twice about what they change. In return wikipedia will be a little more reliable, but there are still many ways to get around this system.I use to consider wikipedia a decent source, but I have now changed my mind. I think wikipedia is good for finding information that is a generally accepted fact or well known around the world. I would not reccommmend wikipedia as a source when looking up information that is more specific and in depth. For example I would not recommend using wikipedia for a research paper ect. In conclusion, I think wikipedia has alot of information to offer, but I would recommed to take a little more time and find a more reliable cite that can be trusted.