When Wikipedia checks the reliability of a source, they use certain criteria to evaluate the information which are:
• Accuracy of information included in the article
• Appropriateness of the images provided with the article
• Appropriateness of the style and focus of the article
• Susceptibility to, and exclusion and removal of, false information (a criterion specific to the Wikipedia process)
• Comprehensiveness, scope and coverage within articles and in the range of articles
• Identification of reputable third-party sources as citations
• Stability of the articles
• Susceptibility to editorial and systemic bias
• Quality of writing
If an article does not match with these criteria, then the editors/administrators consider it as invalid information, and it will be eliminated from Wikipedia.
How reliable do you think Wikipedia actually is?
I think Wikipedia is a pretty reliable source in certain areas such as science fields or profiles of celebrities. In 2005, a report from the journal Nature included that Wikipedia had a similar level of accuracy on its scientific sources compared to Encyclopedia Britannica with a similar rate of making errors on the information. Even though there was a controversy over the validity of this information, it is still believed that people think that Wikipedia can be a good source. However, since Wikipedia can be edited by every user, there is a high possibility of creating false information. Wikipedia in English has a lot of information with a good accuracy of work sources. You can view the same webpage in a different language, and I think there can be some mistakes while people are translating the information into a different one. For example, there is a very long and accurate English Wiki page while only basic information is included in the Wiki page in Korean. Therefore, Wikipedia is a source that the reliability depends on what information the user is going to find out.
Furthermore, Wikipedia can be a reliable or unreliable source based on different age group. For example, students who do not have a lot of information on certain topics may believe that the contents in Wiki pages are 100%true. On the other hand, professionals will be much easier to fine out errors or false information from Wiki articles since they know more information than the other does.
Works Cited
“How reliable is wikipedia?” Yahoo! Answers. 2009. 23 February 2010.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090313101943AAc1mgS
“Is Wikipedia Reliable?” Dummies.com. 23 February 2010.
http://as.dummies.com/how-to/content/is-wikipedia-reliable.html
“Reliability of Wikipedia.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 22 February 2010. 23 February 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_of_Wikipedia
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