Derrick
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Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopaedia written by the volunteering online public, has been made into a book.
According to the Telegraph Rob Mathews, a graphic design student from Sussex, England chose 437 popular articles from the website and published them in a book that includes 5 000 pages and measures almost half a metre in width.
Mathews says that he created the book as a statement against how people today are dependent on the internet for information. “I’m comparing the internet Wikipedia to a traditional encyclopaedia by putting it in the same format. I wanted to make a comment on how everyone goes to the internet these days for information, yet it is very unreliable compared to what it has replaced.”
“These articles are deemed the best articles in Wikipedia, and are determined so based on their quality of referencing, accuracy, neutrality, completeness and style.”
It took Mathews over two weeks to compile the book. He explained that binding was the most difficult process in its creation because he had never tried to produce a book on that scale before. “”Some of the tools that would normally be used can’t cope with producing a book on that scale.”
Wikipedia allows users to add and edit information on the site. For this reason complaints regarding the accuracy of the content have often been brought up. In response the site has revealed that editing the text on a page and replacing it with incorrect information is not quite as simple as it may sound.
On its main site Wikipedia has cited a quote from Lars Aronsson regarding accuracy issues. “Most people, when they first learn about the wiki concept, assume that a Web site that can be edited by anybody would soon be rendered useless by destructive input. It sounds like offering free spray cans next to a grey concrete wall. The only likely outcome would be ugly graffiti and simple tagging, and many artistic efforts would not be long lived. Still, it seems to work very well.”
Despite this, on the very same page Wikipedia admits that its page architecture is designed “with the philosophy of making it easy to correct mistakes, rather than making it difficult to make them.”
Controversy aside, the reality is that millions of people worldwide use Wikipedia and other online resources to track down information, a fact that Mathews may be subtly lamenting with his Wikipedia book.
According to the Telegraph Rob Mathews, a graphic design student from Sussex, England chose 437 popular articles from the website and published them in a book that includes 5 000 pages and measures almost half a metre in width.
Mathews says that he created the book as a statement against how people today are dependent on the internet for information. “I’m comparing the internet Wikipedia to a traditional encyclopaedia by putting it in the same format. I wanted to make a comment on how everyone goes to the internet these days for information, yet it is very unreliable compared to what it has replaced.”
“These articles are deemed the best articles in Wikipedia, and are determined so based on their quality of referencing, accuracy, neutrality, completeness and style.”
It took Mathews over two weeks to compile the book. He explained that binding was the most difficult process in its creation because he had never tried to produce a book on that scale before. “”Some of the tools that would normally be used can’t cope with producing a book on that scale.”
Wikipedia allows users to add and edit information on the site. For this reason complaints regarding the accuracy of the content have often been brought up. In response the site has revealed that editing the text on a page and replacing it with incorrect information is not quite as simple as it may sound.
On its main site Wikipedia has cited a quote from Lars Aronsson regarding accuracy issues. “Most people, when they first learn about the wiki concept, assume that a Web site that can be edited by anybody would soon be rendered useless by destructive input. It sounds like offering free spray cans next to a grey concrete wall. The only likely outcome would be ugly graffiti and simple tagging, and many artistic efforts would not be long lived. Still, it seems to work very well.”
Despite this, on the very same page Wikipedia admits that its page architecture is designed “with the philosophy of making it easy to correct mistakes, rather than making it difficult to make them.”
Controversy aside, the reality is that millions of people worldwide use Wikipedia and other online resources to track down information, a fact that Mathews may be subtly lamenting with his Wikipedia book.