I recently read about a librarian who worked to get Wikipedia banned at their school. She even has a sign in her library that says, just so no to Wikipedia. Is blocking Wikipedia censorship?
Some schools have made the argument that Wikipedia is not as reliable as traditional print encyclopedias. Nature Magazine took up the challenge and compared a number of Britannica articles to Wikipedia articles and the results surprised this Wikipedia fan.
Nature Magazine found the Britannica articles were not without fault and had only slightly fewer errors than did Wikipedia.
I think teachers should allow the use of Wikipedia...but with the same caveat that teachers should use for all online resources. What is the credibility of the site/article? Is there bias in the writing....does this information match information I am finding on other websites or print sources? Students need to be critical consumers of information rather they use print sources or online sources for their research.
Senator Ted Stephens of Alaska is even trying to pass a law against Wikipedia use.
Articles of interest related to this issue:
http://www.news.com/2100-1038_3-5997332.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/education/21wikipedia.html?_r=3&oref=s
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/living/2004025648_wikipedia21.html
http://blogs.computerworld.com/node/4598
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I have noticed wikipedia getting a bad rap as well. Most college professors will not allow references from wikipedi.
The truth is, Wikipedia is a great idea, but everyone needs to check the wiki references and cross reference things before blindly accepting things as true.
Even so, Wikis have always been a great resource of information, and I hope they become the standard, along with some education about "checking"
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