Tricky Wiki
Today I was surfing the Internet and found out about wikis. I like reading about and learning new things so I didn't pass this chance up. Simply put, wikis are just websites. What sets them apart from the others is the fact that information on them can be edited anytime and by just about anyone in the world who has access to it! Editing includes adding, deleting and/or correcting the data. I'm not sure how long wikis have been in existence but their main underlying concept sure is new to me.
One example is Wikipedia, which now ranks as one of the top websites today. Anything on this site has been changed or edited somehow and the question is whether the information you are reading from this site may be considered reliable. That was the first question that popped into my head. Reading more about it, I found out that every change made on a particular data is being logged and so incorrect or even biased additions can be easily detected and corrected again. So in a day, you could just imagine how many times the data swings from its original form to an elaborated one, then to a revised one or to an incorrect one and then back to the revised one, and so on!
Certain data could be disputed and "editors" (I just called them that to easily describe them here) may, at times, not come to a compromise as to how the data should read or how the picture should be placed (now how trivial is that?). They call these "edit wars", ha! (so, there is such a thing as this!) I also learned that as a result of these edit wars, the page/data/picture under dispute would end up being protected (but later lifted for another round of editing). How can its vulnerability to pornography and vandalism be addressed, you may ask. Every amendment sends a signal to interested parties so it is acted upon immediately. These interested parties, readers, "editors", writers or contributors all make up the "wiki community", which is responsible for the overall image of their wiki and its contents.
Ok, I haven't tried this out yet. The farthest I got was viewing the main page, clicking on some links and reading interesting stuff. Why don't you check it out? :)
One example is Wikipedia, which now ranks as one of the top websites today. Anything on this site has been changed or edited somehow and the question is whether the information you are reading from this site may be considered reliable. That was the first question that popped into my head. Reading more about it, I found out that every change made on a particular data is being logged and so incorrect or even biased additions can be easily detected and corrected again. So in a day, you could just imagine how many times the data swings from its original form to an elaborated one, then to a revised one or to an incorrect one and then back to the revised one, and so on!
Certain data could be disputed and "editors" (I just called them that to easily describe them here) may, at times, not come to a compromise as to how the data should read or how the picture should be placed (now how trivial is that?). They call these "edit wars", ha! (so, there is such a thing as this!) I also learned that as a result of these edit wars, the page/data/picture under dispute would end up being protected (but later lifted for another round of editing). How can its vulnerability to pornography and vandalism be addressed, you may ask. Every amendment sends a signal to interested parties so it is acted upon immediately. These interested parties, readers, "editors", writers or contributors all make up the "wiki community", which is responsible for the overall image of their wiki and its contents.
Ok, I haven't tried this out yet. The farthest I got was viewing the main page, clicking on some links and reading interesting stuff. Why don't you check it out? :)
posted by Giggle at 10:09 PM
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