Friday, February 23, 2007

Nobody's Perfect

Sometimes I like to look things up in Wikipedia. Don't ask why. You can't trust it as a source.

But there's something about it, particularly the tone of the language and all of the ridiculous links that make me feel like I'm posing the question to the person next to me - - not really looking it up.

Sometimes I laugh at the editorial undertones - especially what is omitted - love that part the best. There's something about half-knowledge that seems very American to me. I'm sure Benjamin Franklin would have agreed.

Baseball, apple pie and Wikipedia.

4 comments:

Linda said...

sooo American. you know, I never thought of it this way, but I wish I would have. Finishing up college (STILL! - I'm in my very last class!) my professors, one in particular really, absolutely despised wikipedia but also used it regularly. i suppose i have been so brainwashed to find exact information, i've strayed from it. i think it's great that you look random things up regularly. my boyfriend is the same way. he LOVES random information.

Dr. Deb said...

I don't trust Wikis really...

ellesu said...

Oh, me too! I use Wikipedia, don't fully trust it, but enjoy reading the info.

And....don't you just know that students all over are listing it as a source in their footnotes?

Wonder how that's going over?

JT said...

I've been meaning to blog about Wikipedia. I love it, too. The information in it really is the most interesting. We have a lib school assignment coming up where we fact check a Wikipedia biographical entry. I'm excited! Lilbrarians, in general, are on the fence about WIkipedia. While recognizing its inherent flaws, many still see it as the first place to go to when researching pop cultural topics for patrons.