Technology & Innovation — January 16, 2011

10 Years On, Can We Trust Wikipedia?

Forget that old tagline about the Internet being an information “superhighway”. The online world is an information battlefield with pranksters and pragmatists struggling to be heard.

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And on any given day, you can find a good skirmish on Wikipedia, an encyclopedia of sorts—which celebrates its 10th anniversary on Saturday. With around 410 million monthly readers, 3.5 million articles in English alone “to Wiki” something has become a way of life for many. But these word wars themselves—fought with a mix of facts and fervour—make for a riveting record of discord. For example, U.S. president Barack Obama’s page experienced some fast and furious edits until it was blocked from public editing access, with “birthers” changing Obama’s birthplace to Kenya before it was changed back to Hawaii.

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

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