Editing Wikipedia is fun. Be the first to write an obscure but locally or personally significant entry - it's a blast! Power to the 99%. The majority of articles on Wikipedia aren't controversial, so they're not locked down in any way. Go ahead, add your -- thoughtful -- two cents.
We're happy to report that there are some really, really good articles on Wikipedia. Also some okay articles and a whole bunch of mediocre ones. Sadly, you'll also find some real losers. So how do you know which is which? Mostly, you have to decide for yourself, but you'll have some help: Wikipedians want you to know which are the fabulous articles, so they bestow awards on the best ones.
Look for their "featured article" icon
and their "good article" icon 
.
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Articles on topics that are targets of vandalism are subject to Wikipedia's protection policy. These are frequently on socially controversial issues or people. Several levels of protection are used on Wikipedia:
"Semi-protected" -- pretty low bar, huh? The casual vandal might be deterred, but the determined vandal can usually find a way in. Wikipedia articles get hacked all the time. They get corrected quickly, but keep this in mind when deciding how much to trust Wikipedia- especially on current, unfolding events or controversial topics. |
People have used Wikipedia to play jokes or make a point. Here are some examples if you're interested:
Aas much as we all love to use it, there are real and valid reasons why Wikipedia has a poor reputation among academics. You can't just stick your head in the sand and ignore them! Hopefully, our tour has taught you to approach Wikipedia critically but also demonstrated the tremendous quantity of valuable material that may be sensibly used in the academic environment.
End of Module 3
