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had established researchers evaluate comparable scientific articles from
Knowledge (XXG) and Encyclopaedia Britannica. Result: the average EB article has 3 mistakes, the average Knowledge (XXG) article has 4 mistakes. The study also noted the often poor writing in Knowledge (XXG) and found that 17%
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provide a comprehensive overview of the debate and the positions, arguments, biases and lies of the involved parties, especially if the article's history and discussion page are taken into account as well. This coverage is much superior to anything a traditional encyclopedia or news magazine can
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was set up in the summer of 2003. Headed by Wales, who doesn't draw a salary. Three employees: a lawyer, a secretary, a programmer. Now also several chapters in other countries. The foundation owns the servers and the
Knowledge (XXG) trademark, but not the copyrights to Knowledge (XXG) contents,
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Because of its liberal copyright license, you are free to modify
Knowledge (XXG) material and use it in your classes, as long as Knowledge (XXG) is acknowledged. Easiest approach: click on "Printable version" in toolbox on the left, save, then edit with an HTML editor and print or place on your
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Early on, bandwidth and computers were paid for by Wales. Once the non-profit was set up, several fund drives were conducted (announced with a prominent link on every
Knowledge (XXG) page). Nowadays, the foundation receives regular small donations adding up to about $ 30,000 per month and has $
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If you have composed and submitted a beautiful article and revisit it half a year later, expect that people will have reordered sections in an illogical manner, removed statements they didn't understand, added statements that were already covered elsewhere, introduced common misconceptions and
422:: adding biased sentences; leaving out important information; using biased sources etc. In prominent articles this is not much of a problem since there will usually be an opposite group of agenda pushers; biased material in obscure articles can survive for a long time. Prominent case:
406:: removing content, adding nonsense or obscenities. This is usually reverted within minutes to hours; some automatic tools have been written to detect these vandalisms. Still, any article may be in a vandalized state when being viewed (check History!)
442:: Since most of the material is contributed by non-experts, articles may contain common misconceptions. Much rarer than one would expect: people who understand the falsehood of a common misconception are usually passionate about correcting it.
195:
Your IP address will be recorded with your edit. To create a permanent identity in
Knowledge (XXG), create a user account by clicking on "Log in" (upper right). Then, after logging in, your user name will be recorded with your
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Knowledge (XXG) articles neither represent "truth" nor "popular consensus"; they represent the consensus of those editors persistent and invested enough in an article's topic to return, review changes, and keep editing
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may be interesting to you: it is similar to
Knowledge (XXG) but requires every contributor to provide their real name, and gives higher weight to the opinions of credentialed contributors in content disputes.
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When correcting a common misconception, don't simply replace X with Y (it will eventually be changed back); instead write "X is a common misconception but in 1969 John Miller showed Y to be true." and give a
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license, which essentially means: you are free to copy, modify, distribute and even sell
Knowledge (XXG) content, as long as you acknowledge the authors and release your materials under the same license.
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only peer-reviewed references. Important to mention
Knowledge (XXG), and point out the above caveats, or they will use it uncritically. Treat copying of Knowledge (XXG) material as plagiarism.
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Founded in
January 2001 by Jimbo Wales (Internet entrepreneur) and Larry Sanger (philosopher, employed by Wales) to supplement a slow-moving, free, peer-reviewed encyclopedia called
69:
416:. Prominent articles are on editors' "watchlists" allowing them to review every change; malicious changes to obscure articles however can and do survive for a long time.
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All software employed is free and open source (Linux operating system, Apache web server, MySQL database, PHP scripting language). The software running the site, "
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26:
These are notes for a talk about
Knowledge (XXG) I gave at Metropolitan State University in Saint Paul on November 16, 2006. Updated April 2007 and March 2008.
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Sanger left in 2002 after his employment ran out; he still supports the project but has criticized it for supposed anti-elitism and for scaring away experts.
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clicking on (last) gives difference between two consecutive article versions; clicking on (cur) gives difference between a past and the current version
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You need to be relaxed and have a thick skin; in Knowledge (XXG) nobody cares about your credentials. Back up your claims with reputable references.
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It's estimated that adding ads to Knowledge (XXG) would generate about $ 1,000,000 per month, but most Knowledge (XXG) contributors are against it.
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Some professors give assignments that have groups of students improve certain Knowledge (XXG) articles whose topics have been covered in class.
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clicking on a contributor's name gives their self-description; clicking on (contribs) gives a complete list of their edits in Knowledge (XXG).
364:
360:
308:, a one-hour online video presentation explaining numerous additional features of Knowledge (XXG), by a librarian at UW Milwaukee.
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Contains discussion aimed at improving the article, questions or comments about the content, or attempts at resolving conflicts.
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Every article has a "What links here" (in the toolbox to the left). Provides list of all articles that link to the current one.
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Educators take note: your contributions to Knowledge (XXG) will reach many more people than anything else you will ever write.
39:, with links to the various languages. These are independent projects in various stages of completion. The English one is at
412:: falsifying information or adding completely fictitious material; much rarer than outright vandalism. Best known case: the
284:
Sign your contributions to Discussion pages (but not to articles) with ~~~~; this adds your user name and the current date.
637:
Some professors have students write critical evaluations of Knowledge (XXG) articles relevant to topics covered in class.
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Every article belongs to several categories (shown at the bottom); the contents of those categories can be browsed, e.g.
359:
have been devised governing acceptable articles and editor behavior; discussion about article deletions takes place on
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typographical errors etc. Don't take it seriously -- it is to be expected. Take five minutes to fix it and move on.
353:", was developed in-house, is freely available, and is nowadays used by many projects unrelated to Knowledge (XXG).
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project will put Knowledge (XXG) excerpts on their laptops to be distributed to students in developing countries.
356:
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which remain with the contributors. Wales resigned as chair in October 2006 but remains on the governing board.
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Knowledge (XXG) in their research to get overviews, leads and pointers to other sources, but require them to
523:: finds that Knowledge (XXG)'s history coverage is uneven but comparable to Microsoft's Encarta encyclopedia.
65:
Stated goal: every human should have free access to the sum total of human knowledge in their own language...
98:
565:) do not apply to Knowledge (XXG) and have limited usefulness in many other contexts; instead, we have to
82:
Every page has a search box, but the following is usually faster and better: enter your search terms into
702:
This entire document is in the public domain. You can copy, modify and distribute it in any way you like.
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The foreign language Wikipedias are very useful for language learners who can now read material that's
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Many people are unaware of these problems, being misled by the term "encyclopedia"; even many
413:
50:, containing more than 1.3 million articles in English alone and serving about 2,000 articles
17:
661:, 12/15/2005, Vol. 438 Issue 7070, p890-890) encouraged all scientists to contribute.
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Follow the blue links. If a link is red, then that article hasn't been written yet.
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The complete history of all changes can be reviewed and all changes can be undone.
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When submitting your changes, provide a short summary in the "Edit summary" box.
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Every article has a History page (link at the top). Provides information about
533:, the most prestigious German encyclopedia; Knowledge (XXG) comes out ahead.
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Check contribution histories of main writers, to detect possible biases
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are coming; many are developed collaboratively in a Wiki environment (
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consider the possible political/commercial/religious agendas at work,
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By clicking on "Edit this article" you can edit (almost) any article.
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for repeatedly adding his obscure pet theory to numerous articles.
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Links to articles in other languages are given in the lower left.
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Popular culture (movies, celebrities, music bands, video games)
432:: "original research" is forbidden in Knowledge (XXG); even a
676:
497:, 12/15/2005, Vol. 438 Issue 7070, p900-901): news staff of
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study (Jim Giles. Internet encyclopaedias go head to head.
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retired MIT professor was once banned from Knowledge (XXG)
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compare new information to existing background knowledge,
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clicking on a date gives the article version of that date
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Bad writing, typos, poor organization of articles, etc.
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Every article has a Discussion page (link at the top).
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evaluate the internal consistency of the information,
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Current events (Hurricane Katrina, War in Iraq, etc.)
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makes final decisions about banning disruptive users.
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Unreliable information sources can be quite useful.
506:authors consult Knowledge (XXG) on a weekly basis.
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Organization behind Knowledge (XXG) and its history
290:For fancier things such as tables, images etc. see
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657:editorial in December 2005 (Wiki's wild world.
603:Articles on highly controversial topics such as
593:Check History page for signs of recent vandalism
370:Wikimedia also runs a multilingual dictionary (
683:Freely distributable and modifiable text books
430:Obscure crackpot and pseudoscientific theories
94:if you're only interested in English material)
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8:
480:peer reviewed articles cite Knowledge (XXG)
590:Check Discussion page for ongoing disputes
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584:Knowledge (XXG)-internal investigations:
555:new techniques of information evaluation.
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152:who contributed what, with edit summaries
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30:Features of the Knowledge (XXG) website
546:Consider your senses, your memory, or
521:Journal of American History, June 2006
424:Congress staffers edit Knowledge (XXG)
529:: compares German Knowledge (XXG) to
59:Anyone can edit (almost) any article.
7:
382:), and a depository of free photos (
199:When editing pages, use this syntax:
557:Traditional techniques (evaluating
553:Knowledge (XXG) forces us to learn
538:General usefulness; use in academia
330:on early history of Knowledge (XXG)
68:Everything is published under the
24:
615:It's appropriate to let students
178:Important background information!
587:Check article in other languages
448:: From most to least extensive:
146:when the article was last edited
143:all past versions of the article
166:How to read an article history
1:
267:==This is a section header==
512:Rebuttal of the rebuttal by
322:that has since all but died.
135:History and discussion pages
645:Contributing as an academic
460:Literature, art, philosophy
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271:
457:Computing, science, math
398:Problems and reliability
334:Non-profit organization
273:This is a section header
149:how often it was edited
99:Category:French artists
374:), a text book site (
365:Arbitration Committee
361:Articles for deletion
92:site:en.wikipedia.org
527:Stern, December 2007
391:One Laptop per Child
343:500,000 in the bank.
336:Wikimedia Foundation
693:). So get involved!
675:Larry Sanger's new
632:interesting to them
577:check a variety of
414:Seigenthaler affair
299:Further information
210:what it looks like
634:in a new language.
404:Outright vandalism
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276:
88:site:wikipedia.org
486:Content reviews:
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410:Malicious changes
357:Numerous policies
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226:this person is ]
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77:Locating articles
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378:), a news site (
328:Atlantic Monthly
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248:* this is a list
215:this links to ]
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187:Editing articles
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48:top 10 website
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52:every second
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691:Global Text
677:Citizendium
609:scientology
579:independent
548:photographs
384:WikiCommons
260:second item
164:See also:
35:Main page:
668:reference.
563:authorship
372:Wiktionary
84:google.com
46:This is a
687:WikiBooks
531:Brockhaus
376:WikiBooks
351:Mediawiki
237:link to
109:By date:
627:website.
605:abortion
581:sources.
380:WikiNews
306:Why Wiki
240:link to
220:Medicine
86:and add
559:process
363:and an
320:Nupedia
126:1 E7 kg
122:1 E-6 m
659:Nature
655:Nature
612:offer.
514:Nature
504:Nature
499:Nature
495:Nature
491:Nature
389:MIT's
242:Google
231:French
196:edits.
16:<
689:and
621:cite
561:and
304:See
115:1969
90:(or
70:GFDL
617:use
607:or
502:of
475:it.
653:A
510:,
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113:,
550:.
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482:!
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