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August 31, 2007
Wall Street Journal Article on Wikipedia comments
The Wall Street Journal had an article a few weeks ago about the discussion tab in Wikipedia. I've never really bothered much looking at this background information related to the articles but I could see where this might become an actual area of research in the future. While you may have to slog through a number of inane comments of little consequence from people whose entire lives are Wikipedia, some comments also represent scholarly dialog and debate on some important issues and can be traced by date and time stamps. Scholars and non-scholars contribute to Wikipedia and the comments made in articles represent an interesting take on the scholarly process. Encyclopedia Britanica doesn't have an open process for justifying to the public the thought and research behind an entry. People have always assumed what was published was "truth." Now there's a more transparent process.
Here's another interesting note about Wikipedia. There has long been the suspicion that interested parties go into Wikipedia and anonymously edit entries to make themselves, their constituents or their companies look better. Using a database called Wikipedia Scanner it is now possible to track the IP address of these anonymous edits to articles on Wikipedia which makes for some interesting finds. Using Wikipedia Scanner you can look up an "anonymous" editor's IP address and see where their computer is located. Editing an article which bad mouths Allstate Insurance? You're in trouble if your IP address is included within that corporations range. Better be careful. University of Michigan IP addresses are listed on the database.
Here's an example of an unsigned edit with an IP address of 71.214.240.169.
A Wired blog lists a number of examples of questionable edits within Wikipedia and asks readers to vote for the most flagrant conflict of interest.
Posted by swortman at August 31, 2007 12:23 PM