2007-06-06 10:52:40
Despite success, Wikipedia still battling misinformation
AFP
Published: Thursday March 8, 2007
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales didn't know he liked to play chess until he
read it on the online encyclopedia he helped to create.
Even Wales is sometimes the victim of information vandalism on Wikipedia, the
Internet phenomenon which started in 2001 and is now written and edited by
thousands of anonymous contributors.
"When I read the story of my life on Wikipedia, I think it's quite funny and
odd because major parts of my life aren't mentioned," the former options trader
told reporters on a trip to Japan.
"For a short period of time someone wrote in the article about me, 'In his
spare time he enjoys playing chess with his friends.' It's not a very vicious
thing to say, it just happens to not be true," he said.
Wales isn't the only one to have found some unexpected information about
themselves on Wikipedia, the self-policing website described by Wales as an
attempt to give free access to the sum of all human knowledge.
Former Robert Kennedy aide John Seigenthaler famously logged onto Wikipedia to
find an article suggesting that he may have been involved in the assassinations
of both Robert F. Kennedy and John F. Kennedy.
More recently the site has been hit by revelations that a prolific Wikipedia
editor "Essjay", who claimed to be a professor, was actually a 20-something
college dropout who used false credentials.
He has since been asked to resign, but -- in the true spirit of the website --
even "Essjay" now has his own Wikipedia entry.
The site, which has a core of volunteer Wikipedians who trawl the many pages
for inaccuracies, aims to offer everyone free access to information, but its
biggest strength is also one of its biggest weaknesses.
Although its accuracy is reportedly on a par with the Encyclopaedia Britannica,
even Wales says college students should not rely on Wikipedia alone, although
he adds that telling them not to visit Wikipedia "is like telling them not to
listen to rock and roll."
But it is often the most controversial subjects that have the most balanced
entries, he adds.
"The community is really aggressive about defending our neutrality policy.
People are constantly reviewing articles," said Wales.
"In terms of more subtle errors or more subtle information, obviously it
becomes more difficult, but then it gets into the very complex area of
editorial judgement," he said.
"In general, on highly controversial topics... we end up with a pretty balanced
article, because what happens is people from competing sides have to write in
such a way which is agreeable not only for themselves but to the person on the
other side."
With more than five million articles in 250 languages from English and Arabic
to Tagalog and even Choctaw, Wikipedia says it is now used every day by
hundreds of thousands of people around the world.
Since its launch in 2001, it has become a powerful symbol of a new generation
of Internet service based on collaboration and information-sharing.
Wales has also been on the other end of the misinformation controversy: in 2005
he was criticised for editing his own biography page on Wikipedia, apparently
removing references to Larry Sanger as co-founder of the website.
Wales also now hopes to launch a search engine to rival Google and Yahoo.
"The idea that Google has some edge because they've got super duper rocket
scientists may be a little antiquated now," he said.
He even dreams of starting a free mobile telephone network one day, but he also
believes Wikipedia still has room for improvement.
"I don't know how good we can get. Right now we basically have a desire to be
Britannica or better quality. We don't reach that in a lot of areas. We do
reach it in some areas. As long as people are using it I'm happy," he said.