Whether it’s an academic question to a mundane query, we’ve all used wikipedia. How many people in this room have used Wikipedia?
These are the statistics as of 2007.
And if we are told not to use it . . .
Why do we continue to use it?
We all need information: therefore we love it. We can’t live without it. We want it now and we want it fast.
But once we get on the web, or the internet . . . .
We’re like kids in a candy store. We want everything. Especially, if it’s free. And who would turn down free candy?
Wikipedia provides us a venue where we can get information fast and free. Instead of looking at Wikipedia as a place where you can get answers why don’t we look at it as a
Is Wikipedia Model Perfect? No it isn’t. But the question is if so many people are using that means it must be useful for them.
We should teach others to use Wikipedia as a starting point for research
And by analyzing some of what Wikipedia has to offer, we can become more information literate.
Many articles in Wikipedia contain some useful tools for us to use to find reliable sources.
Should we keep pushing away Wikipedia and what it offers . . .
Or can we come to the agreement that we can use Wikipedia for it’s strengths and weaknesses?
Because in the end, won’t we all be more Information Literate? Thank you.