Some subscribers to Phys-L might be interested in a recent post "Why
Wikipedia is a Relatively Reliable Source (was Why Wikipedia is NOT a
reliable source) [Hake (2012)]. The abstract reads:
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ABSTRACT: Lloyd Carroll of the Chemed-L list, in a post "Useful for
students to read - Why Wikipedia is NOT a reliable source," wrote
(paraphrasing): "I plan to require that my students read
Messer-Kruse's (2012) "The 'Undue Weight' of Truth on Wikipedia,"
wherein he shows that new discoveries may be slow in coming to
Wikipedia, especially if they are controversial."
But the same can be said of "Encyclopedia Britannica" and is not
necessarily a reason for non-citing of either encyclopedia. "In
Defense of Wikipedia" [Hake (2009)] I wrote: "Those who dismiss
Wikipedia entries as a mere 'opinion pieces,' may not be aware that a
study by 'Nature' [Giles (2005)] indicated that Wikipedia comes
close to Britannica in terms of the accuracy of its science entries.
. . . . . Nature's claim of comparable accuracy of scientific entries
in Britannica and Wikipedia was disputed by Britannica (2006), but
Nature's initial formal response [Nature 2006a), an editorial Nature
(2006b), and point-by-point rebuttal [Nature (2006c] suggest that
Nature's claim was correct.
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REFERENCES [URL's shortened by <http://bit.ly/> and accessed on 17 Feb 2012.]
Giles, J. 2005. "Special Report - Internet encyclopaedias go head to
head - Wikipedia comes close to Britannica in terms of the accuracy
of its science entries, a Nature investigation finds. " Nature 438:
900-901, 15 December; online as a 508 kB pdf at
<http://bit.ly/xERbDe>.
Hake, R.R. 2012. Why Wikipedia is a Relatively Reliable Source (was
Why Wikipedia is NOT a reliable source); online on the OPEN! AERA-L
archives at <http://bit.ly/zHmOEm>. Post of 17 Feb 2012 17:07:41-0800
to AERA-L and Net-Gold. The abstract and link to the complete post
are being transmitted to several discussion lists and are also on my
blog "Hake'sEdStuff" at <http://bit.ly/xerAhy> with a provision for
comments.
Messer-Kruse, T. 2012. "The 'Undue Weight' of Truth on Wikipedia"
Chronicle of Higher Education, 12 Feb, online at
<http://bit.ly/zUka0c>.