Wiki this, Wiki that

Wikipedia is a wonderful tool. It's also a great time-waster. And it may also be full of crap.

A recent discussion with a former book seller got me thinking about wikipedia. It's not perfect, but I think the sheer volume of users tends to keep it fairly honest. Maybe not Encaeclopedia Brittanica quality. But on a par with some print Encaeclopedias to be sure.

But is it enough? Right now, I can hop on Wikipedia and read a quick synopsis of pretty much whatever I want, from Penny Arcade to 1951-52 in English Football. I can even have a random article displayed and start learning a little bit about whatever I want. I'll never become the world's leading expert on the subject, but I'll learn a little bit. After enough time, I'll know a little bit about a lot.

The closest equivalent in books (excluding print encaeclopedias) is reading the back cover. But that's more of a teaser than a brief overview. And few will argue that flipping through the pages of a book is faster than Wikipedia's search function.

Of course, you're never going to flip to a random page in a print book and find it vandalized. Or if it is vandalized, you should be able to discern that in no time at all, unlike the sometimes cunning, often crude Wikipedia vandalizations. Maybe the article will only be incorrect for a few minutes, but the chance remains.

So where does Wikipedia fall in the grand scheme of things? I have no problem with it being used academically, as long as it's only a brief usage, backed up by other sources. A certain amount of caution should be excercised by the reader as well; at the very least making sure that an article has been sourced - but probably checking up on a few sources as well - before taking the article as the gospel truth.

Will Wikipedia ever reach true academic standards? Not while it's an open project. But if it stops being an open project, then it'll be deader than dead. I'd call it an interesting experiment, but at this point, I'm pretty sure it's moved beyond that. Perhaps as the internet and the community built up around it matures vandalism of Wikipedia will start to disappear. Or maybe not.

Regardless, I'm going to keep using Wikipedia if only because it's so damned convenient. And I work in a book store.