Topic Five: Why I hate Wikipedia

Lecture

How do we know what we research from Wikpedia is the truth? This was one of the main points in the lecture. We took the example of the Lee Cox entry in Wikipedia. It was created to show that someone can post incorrect and blatant lies in this forum. It then brings into contention the validity of other entries on Wikipedia. Also what we know now can always be monitored when new information is obtained or exposed, which means Wiki could come in handy when the updating of information is necessary.

Virtual truth was also mentioned in the lecture with one of its points of interest being the film "The Matrix". It blends the idea of reality and virtual reality or manufactured reality. The distinction between the reality and virtual reality has become blurred, as virtual reality brings about the same feelings or actions as that of actually experiencing a 'reality'.
Although this reality may be virtual it doesn't make it any less real to the individual experiencing in, and it raises the possibility that mundane reality is no less virtual anyway.

Tutorial and Tutorial Tasks

I believe that Wikipedia does have its place when researching topics, however it needs to be monitored by certified researchers in order to verify the information that is being posted. How can individuals be trusted to regulate and the entries when they may have found the information from an unreliable source. We were assigned ten questions to research using an internet search resource other than Google or Wikipedia. The answers to the questions are listed below and stated as fact. In order to be as certain as one can be about the correctness of a question that is being answered one must check a number of sites and sources to check their validity, but I have only listed the first source used for each question. But who knows, many sites in succession maybe reporting incorrect information by gaining the information initially from an incorrect source.

1) Onel De Guzman is supposedly the person that created the “lovebug” computer virus.

Source: http://www.computerbytesman.com/lovebug/index.htm

2) William D Middlebrook invented the paperclip. He also invented the machine used to produce it.

Source: http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/paperclip.htm

3) The Ebola virus received its name from the river located in the Congo where the virus was first observed.

Source: http://www.mc.edu/campus/users/mcgowan/jaredgregg.htm

4) Chile is the country that has had the largest/ strongest recorded earthquake.

Source: http://www.extremescience.com/GreatestEarthquake.htm

5) There are 1,000,000,000 kilobytes in a terabyte.

Source: http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid5_gci213118,00.html

6) The creator of email is believed to be Ray Tomlinson who developed a local program in the 1970’s, and in 1971 developed the first APRANET email application.

Source: http://www.livinginternet.com/e/ei.htm

7) A storm worm is used to blast out millions of junk emails for advertising web links that when clicked or accessed become a host for the latest copy of the worm for download.

Source: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2007/10/the_storm_worm_maelstrom_or_te.html?nav=rss_blog

8) The most efficient way of contacting the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is by calling Parliament House located in Canberra or by visiting his official ministerial website www.pm.gov.au/

Source: http://www.alp.org.au/people/qld/rudd_kevin.php

9) Stephen Stockwell plays in the Brisbane-based punk band Black Assassins in which he plays the keyboards.

Source: http://live-wirez.gu.edu.au/Staff/Stephen/default.html

10) The term Web 2.0 is a new and more disciplined way of using the internet. The hype is removed and the goal is complete and easy access and transfer of information. It will hopefully make it easier for individuals and businesses interact and transact in our fast paced and technology based world.

Source: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html

I found that Internet search engines generally rank the searched websites on how popular they are (how many times they have been accessed) therefore if there is some obscure information or view you are seeking, the pursuit may take a bit longer. You have to wade through generic sites in order to gain the specific information you require in many cases. In saying that, this popularity ranking does help when looking for simple information like many of the questions listed above. My favourite search engine would have to be Google as it accesses websites quickly and more precisely than any other engine that I've tried such as "Ask" or "Yahoo". It has helped to refine my searches when researching for assignment topics. It does help when you are able to search for sites a more efficient way by utilising key words related to your chosen topic.

In relation to virtual truths mentioned earlier, i believe an artificial reality can feel just as real as 'reality'. Films like The Matrix and Dark City put forward the idea that a society could living in a false state of consciousness. If an individual thinks that they are feeling a certain emotion or are experiencing and event that feels real, I think it then becomes that persons reality, whether or not it has been manufactured or not.

There is another Wikipedia related task that was set for us. We were required to research two topics that we have some understanding of. I chose the topic film and the dance music group Sash!. I went to Wikipedia to check if their articles were correct and informative. I found in both examples that the information was exact and their sources allowed for more education on the topics which in turn allows for greater grasps on the topics at hand. Their was no argument involved in both topics so there was no way of checking for bias, but other Wiki experience has resulted in a lack of bias. Only when you start getting into topical arguments that you may find discrepancies at the hands of Wikipedia. From my experience though, their guidelines in their content criteria, in theory, does not allow for bias of any sort. Articles are supposed to be deemed neutral and be factual, notable and sited from reliable sources (verifiable). This is done so that the information is hopefully truthful and does not exhibit any bias towards a subject or argument therefore creating a safe environment for those that which to use Wikipedia as a reliable learning or research tool.

Readings

This week we were required to read the short story "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius". It is a brief but succinct fictitious piece of work, a that deals with a conspiracy by intellectuals that imagine, thereby create an idealistic world. It is essentially a detective story told from the perspective of a fictitious version of the writer, Jorge Luis Borges that is set in a world going mad under the pressures of society. It is a fictional work but has real world connections in that his environments are modeled from potentially real locations and the moral and intellectual standpoints in the dialogue derive from the standpoints of that era. (It was written in 1940, though it is set in the near future of 1947) Through the narrative he aimed to dissect, speculate and challenge certain ideals in society such as materialism and totalitarianism.