Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia

Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia is an unusual and aptly named reference resource. This open‐content encyclopedia allows for general public authorship and editing of any of its articles, and its text may be freely copied and distributed. A collaborative project, started in January 2001, it embodies some of the brightest promises of the Web – collective intellectual enterprise, informed consensus, unrestricted access to knowledge, and the free sharing of information and software – while challenging commonly‐held notions of authorship and editorial control.

The goal of the Wikipedia project is to create a truly free universal encyclopedia. “Wiki” is a term used to identify both a type of hypertext document and the software used to create it. Wiki pages can be viewed and edited by anyone with an Internet connection, and page content may be duplicated in any way, as long as the user maintains the same openness in his or her own version. Wikipedia contains over 28,700 articles by anonymous worldwide contributors. Its content is dynamic and unrestricted by a single editorial presence, subject only to “social pressures and community norms”. Participants follow several essential policies of authorship, the most important of which are maintenance of a neutral point of view and fair presentation of all views on a topic. These policies are outlined in accompanying pages aimed at prospective contributors.

On Wikipedia’s first page articles are currently classified within a four‐part scheme: philosophy, mathematics and natural science; social sciences; applied arts and sciences; and culture. These categories contain links to related disciplines; for example, the social sciences category contains subjects such as anthropology, economics, geography and political science. The depth of organisation in each subject varies, possibly reflecting the expertise or availability of content contributors. Subject entries typically contain a primary description, followed by hierarchically arranged links to related topics. Topics needing coverage are bracketed and followed by a question mark, which generates a text‐entry box when clicked. Some topics are thoroughly and elegantly covered, and some articles resemble those in more established encyclopaedias. A few simply resemble dictionary entries, thereby violating one of the precepts of the Wikipedia project. But, unlike established encyclopaedias, a discontented reader may edit the entry or initiate a discussion about it by clicking on either the “Edit this page” or “Talk” links at the bottom of the page.

Wikipedia is also searchable by keyword, but several attempts by this reviewer failed to find any related content for a range of typical encyclopaedia subjects. The site’s most popular pages, according to statistics offered, include the “September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States”, “Mathematics”, “World War II” and “Wikipedia FAQ”.

The effect that the openness of this project has on its reliability as a reference resource is problematic. Popular search engines and Web portals, including Google, Netscape, Yahoo! and AltaVista, direct traffic to Wikipedia pages, but users applying common Web site evaluation criteria could find its articles of questionable value. Of more promise may be a complementary open‐content project, the peer‐reviewed and edited Nupedia <www.nupedia.com>.

This review was first published in Reference Reviews Volume 16 Number 6 2002.