User:CssJHAnis/sandbox
AUTHOR
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Wales received degrees in finance from Auburn University (B.S.) and the University of Alabama (M.S.). From 1994 to 2000 he was an options trader in Chicago, amassing enough money to allow him to quit and start his own Internet company. Wales was a devotee of objectivism, and in 1989 he began moderating the online Ayn Rand Philosophy Discussion List. In March 2000, perhaps inspired by objectivist “openness,” he founded a free online encyclopaedia called Nupedia, which sought free contributions from scholars and other experts and subjected them to an intensive peer-review process. Frustrated by the slow progress of this project, Wales and Nupedia’s editor in chief, Larry Sanger, in 2001 turned to a new technology, a type of software called wiki, to create Wikipedia, a companion encyclopaedia site that anyone could contribute to and edit. Sanger and Wales parted company in 2002, but they continued to dispute who first came up with the idea of using the wiki software.
Despite certain vulnerabilities—including the fact that Wikipedia was the object of deliberate vandalism, editorial wars, and practical jokes—the site was a huge success. By 2006 Wikipedia was available in a number of languages and was one of the Internet’s most popular sites. In 2003 Wales established the Wikimedia Foundation to oversee his expanding online enterprises. He extended the wiki model to several other projects, including Wiktionary and Wikinews. In 2004 he cofounded with Angela Beesley the for-profit Wikia, Inc.
overview
[edit]Wikipedia, a free and collaborative online encyclopedia, is used for various purposes, including gaining an overview of topics, exploring diverse subjects, and serving as a starting point for research and learning, though it's important to note that it's not considered a reliable source for academic purposes.
Wikipedia is a free, open and multilingual online encyclopedia written by voluntary and anonymous contributors from around the world. Yes, it is a free encyclopedia that anyone can edit. "Wiki" describes an easy-to-use website where users can do collaborative editing. Originally, wiki is a Hawaiian word for "quick," and was first used by developer Ward Cunningham as computer terminology. Wikipedia was established by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger in 2001, and, up to present, it has become the largest and most popular Web-based reference source with 5,699,306 articles written in English.
What Wikipedia is not?
[edit]Wikipedia is not a primary source, nor a secondary source. It is a tertiary source built on the analysis of primary and secondary resources. Find more misconceptions about Wikipedia.
Who uses Wikipedia?
[edit]A group of researchers studied more than 500 articles on the subject of Wikipedia and their finding reveals that scholars, librarians and students are the most common users. They come to Wikipedia either for light-topic information or for serious topics concerning health and legal background.
How do I use Wikipedia properly?
[edit]If Wikipedia is used appropriately, it will help you to do the research. Do remember verify whatever you find in another source. Here are a few tips:
- Check the background information of a specific topic or the meaning of a term that doesn't sound familiar to you. For instance, who is Hubert Blaine Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff, Sr.?
- Help become familiar with a research topic or serve as a starting point for a research to get a general impression. However, definitely you don't want to just stop there. Library has more resources to offer, which direct your thoughts fly high!
- Help narrow a broad research topic or help develop a research topic. You have to check the subheadings of the Wikipedia article or ask questions to a certain aspect of it. Check "Global Warming" in Wikipedia, do scientific discussions and popular opinion view global warming differently? And why?
- Help develop search terms that can be used in libraries' databases. Under "Global Warming," you can find "greenhouse effect," "social aspect," "effects of global warming," and "permafrost," etc., which are very useful to narrow down a topic and used as good search terms in libraries' databases.
- Help find additional resources. At the end of Wikipedia articles, you will find a list of references (magazines, newspapers, journal article, and books, etc.) which direct you to outside resources that contributors consult. Check those works. Some are helpful and relevant to your research. However, some may surprise you and make you evaluate Wikipedia critically. --- The above ideas are adapted from "Using Wikipedia in Information Literacy Instruction" by Cate Calhoun