The world and Wikipedia : how we are editing reality /

The world and Wikipedia : how we are editing reality /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Dalby, Andrew, 1947-
Imprint:	Somerset : Siduri, 2009.
Description:	256 p. ; 24 cm.
Language:	English
Subject:	Wikipedia. Wikipedia. User-generated content. User-generated content -- Social aspects. User-generated content -- Psychological aspects. Electronic encyclopedias. Electronic encyclopedias -- Social aspects. Electronic encyclopedias -- Psychological aspects. Knowledge, Sociology of. Electronic encyclopedias. Knowledge, Sociology of. User-generated content.
Format:	Print Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/7848556

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ISBN:	9780956205209 (hbk.) 0956205208 (hbk.)
Notes:	Includes bibliographical references (p. 241-246) and indexes.
Summary:	"Take any article on Wikipedia. Who wrote it? Where did it come from? Now take a closer look at those unconvincing, badly written sentences in the middle. Why did someone add them? How long will it be before someone else deletes them? And how many people will have read them before they are removed? Five years ago such questions didn't matter; Wikipedia was one source among many, and no one took it very seriously. Two years ago they hardly mattered, because the newspapers said Wikipedia couldn't be trusted, and there was always a more 'reliable' source to check later. But suddenly, these questions really do matter. With all its nonsense, its illiteracy and its unreliability, Wikipedia is currently the eighth most visited site on the web. Whatever they say, most people rely on it most of the time. Those other sources won't be around much longer, and Wikipedia will be the best there is. But is it good enough to rule the world of knowledge? And how big will it be ten years from now?"--pub. desc.

Table of Contents:

Prologue
Chapter 1. Wikipedians at work
Chapter 2. Where it came from
Chapter 3. Why they hate it
Chapter 4. Why you use it
Chapter 5. Why we love it
Chapter 6. Chaos and beyond; or Why we love it version 2.5
Chapter 7. Why you don't trust Wikipedia
Chapter 8. Why you will trust Wikipedia
Authors note
Endnotes
Bibliography
Index of usernames
General index