Wikepedia

[Andrey Shcherbenok]

I totally agree that a lot of printed materials are filled with bias and
plain factual inaccuracies/mistakes/lies. However, I think there is a
difference between a history book by a concrete author with whom you can
disagree and engage in a discussion and who has his scholarly reputation at
stake to prevent him or her from lying, and an anonymous on-line article. Of
course, if critical thinking is applied to a Wikipedia entry just as it
should to an expressed opinion of someone obscure individual you never heard
about, it is just fine; I often feel, however, that Wikipedia is referred to
as THE source of objective information, the expression of collective wisdom,
shared knowledge etc, that is, something having more authority than a
writing of a concrete individual, let alone an anonymous one.

As to the idea of changing something in Wikipedia myself, it is not at all
that simple. I tried editing "Great Patriotic War" entry. My changes
reflected on the screen on the day I made them; however, the next day the
entry looked exactly as it did before I edited it. I do not know how it
works -- whether there is some Big Brother secretly monitoring the site, or
just an individual who likes the entry as it is and re-edits it every time
someone makes changes -- at any rate, this blindfolded process is not a
scholarly discussion, neither is it a process thereby some existing public
or scholarly consensus gets reflected in the entry that we can read.

-----Original Message-----
From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU] On Behalf Of Josh Wilson
Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2006 12:53 AM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Wikepedia

I would also add that inaccuracies or biased statements in Wikipedia are not
proof that it should not be used. If you've ever read anything by Daniel
Goldhagen, for instance, you'll know that a lot of printed histories are
filled with biases. (However, I have read much of his work as his biases are
interesting and good for debate.) 

On another thought, accuracy in history can change overtime:
http://www.sras.org/news2.phtml?m=768

In short, it's not that the Internet is unreliable, but that it's simply
much more important now that it is much easier to publish material to not
believe everything you read. So I hope that all the educators on this list
are doing all they can not only teach language and literature, but also to
teach critical thinking skills.

IMHO, 

JW

PS. Also, if you don't like Wikipedia, you may join Wikipedia and change it.


-----Original Message-----
From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
[mailto:SEELANGS at listserv.cuny.edu] On Behalf Of Alina Israeli
Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2006 3:36 AM
To: SEELANGS at listserv.cuny.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Wikepedia

>Yes, science and technology sections in Wikipedia (which Nature your quote
>refers to) are usually quite good -- there are a lot more experts around to
>check for accuracy and there are no particular stakes in misinforming the
>public about the structure of DNA or the engines used in 1949 Fords, for
>example. History is a very different matter...

If you don't like the Wikipedia article on "Great Patriotic War" (or 
anything else for that matter), you can click on the left hand side 
for another language and get a completely different article in 
Russian 
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%
9E%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%87%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%8F_%
D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B9%D0%BD%D0%B0

or in German 
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronologie_Zweiter_Weltkrieg (in fact 
two German versions 
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gro%C3%9Fer_Vaterl%C3%A4ndischer_Krieg)

or in French http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Op%C3%A9ration_Barbarossa

or in a number of other languages. These are not translations, for 
some articles I compared Russian, English and French and had ample 
opportunity to observe differences.
-- 

-- 
__________
Alina Israeli
LFS, American University
4400 Mass. Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20016

phone:	(202) 885-2387
fax:	(202) 885-1076

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