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[wikipedia]

xxhttp://www.wikipedia.org

 

 

summary of the application

wikipedia is the largest online encyclopedia on the web. the twist is that its has been written by its users, not a publisher and authors. it is published in a wiki environment which means that anyone who has access to the site, which is nearly everyone with internet access, can add, delete, or change any of the content in Wikipedia. the english version alone has 3.8 million entries. there are currently 48,000 active contributors. there are 117 different language versions. started in 2001 it has become one of the most talked about and most used web sites on the internet. wikipedia is free.

personal effectiveness xxx

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i believe that wikipedia is one of the new wonders of the world. that hundreds of thousands of people from all over the globe have joined together over the past five years to create one body of knowledge is mind blowing.

 

they dialed in the right formula almost from the start and it has grown at amazing speed ever since. last spring in a head-to-head comparison with the encyclopedia britannica, wikipedia came out with a few more errors. but considering the fact that wikipedia never set out to be an ultimate authority, as britannica has maintained that it is for some time now, i saw the study as a great endorsement of wikipedia.

 

for the most part, wikipedia is very simple to use. at times some entries become a bit cluttered as they are being built but the format is simple and straightforward, keeping the focus on the content - as it should be. if you're not sure what to do, but want to help, go to the community portal and find their project "to-do" lists. anything from editing articles for style, to "wikifying" content that was not formatted correctly, to answering user questions. there's alot to do.

 

learning effectiveness xxx

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plain and simple, if there is a student of any sort past the sixth grade who doesn't have a bookmark to wikipedia, i'll give them an "f" for not making their lives simpler.

 

while it is true that the content of wikipedia is constantly shifting, for most of what a learner may need to understand, there's no better central source. it's diversity of authorship means that topics that might be excluded by an editorial board of an ink-on-paper resource will often be covered in detail in wikipedia. and timely? wikipedia boarders on being a newspaper as current events are added to the mass of knowledge within hours of the event.

 

one piece of advice though for those using wikipedia for research purposes, you might want to consider printing or taking a screen shot of the content you are quoting or otherwise using. because it might not be there tomorrow in the same working you used.

 

finally, wikipedia serves as a central resource for most of it's content. there are links out to sites on the web, references to printed materials and cross-references within wikipedia.

 

coolness xxx

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wikipedia is the #1 coolest thing on the web as far as i'm concerned. not only is it the largest collection of human knowledge ever created, it is also the largest collaborative project in the history of humankind. that many people working together is simply a paradigm shift for our interactions. plus it has nearly single handedly made wiki's a huge success. they have created systems to work together to solve conflicts, ward of malicious attacks (the arch-nemesis of any wiki), and evolve a small idea into a global undertaking.

 

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do you know a competitor to this application?

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if you know of a competitor to wikipedia and it's not in the list below, feel free to add it to the list by filling out the form to the right. that will put it on my radar screen for possible review.

thanks!

 

 

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