Does Wikipedia provide false authority to our sound-bite society?

[TheFaithfulStone]

Originally Posted by coberst

I am inclined to regard Wiki as complimentary to that culture.

Why? Because of the Kuhn thing you don't care for?

TFS

[coberst]

The Faithful

When I turn to Britannica I get the feeling that I am turning to great knowledge and wisdom but when I turn to Wiki I get the feeling that I am turning to something on the run that has the appearance of substance but is very problomatic. But, like I said, this may be unfair because I seldom use Wiki.

[Zythryn]

Coberst, I think the common message has been something like "I find Wiki useful" not "I like Wiki".
As I stated earlier, there is little difference between the accuracy of Encyclopedia Britanica and Wiki. The biggest difference seems to be how well the text in Wiki is structured (not as professional in some cases).

I can see how that fact could lead many to believe the information is less accurate even though that is not the case.

[pgrmdave]

The fact is, no encyclopedia should ever be used for serious research. Not even the venerable Britannica - they are very general overviews of information, and are prone to small mistakes (to reiterate what has been said before - wikipedia and Britannica have very similar rates of problems.) As for feeding into a 'sound bite society', there has yet to be any actual discussion as to how Wikipedia, by providing information, can do that. It is not, to the best of my knowledge, biased, nor is it broadly lacking in information. A 'sound bite society' would be fed by biased news and/or news that was, in general, lacking a lot of information.

[TheFaithfulStone]

Indeed.

The argument here is what? That wikipedia, by virtue of being easy to access, and not "authoritative" provides people with the ability to talk about things without a subtle understanding of said thing?

In other words, if I want to know about subject X, rather than go and read a book about it, I go punch it into Wikipedia.

So, the critique is not of Wikipedia, but of the Intarweb in general. It's too easy to learn just enough to be dangerous?

TFS

[coberst]

Originally Posted by TheFaithfulStone

Indeed.


So, the critique is not of Wikipedia, but of the Intarweb in general. It's too easy to learn just enough to be dangerous?

TFS

I would be inclined to say that it reenforces the sound-bite mind set.

[pgrmdave]

Okay coberst, I understand that is what you say. I'm inclined to say that apples reinforce the sound-bite mind set.