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Щ KEYWORDS: Wikipedia and librarians; Crowdsourcing.
In the 1930s H. G. Wells envisioned a new, free, synthetic, authoritative, permanent "World Encyclopedia" that could help World Citizens make the best use of universal information resources. He called his vision "a sort of mental clearing house for the mind, a depot where knowledge and ideas are received, sorted, summarized, digested, clarified and compared" (Wells & Mayne, 1938). Wells dubbed his proposed resource the World Brain. His idea did not go without notice. Arthur C. Clarke, in his 1962 book Profiles of the Future, predicted that the construction of this World Brain would begin to take place by the year 2000 (Clark, 1962). On January 15, 2001, Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger formally launched Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. Welcome to 95 the World Brain! Enter librarians, stage left! ^
Wikipedia is often a sensitive and controversial topic when discussed within the realm of Librarians and other Information Professionals both within and outside the environment of Academia. The fact that the source can be edited in an open access manner by any individual gives rise to the claim that the Information contained within the resource is inaccurate and that efforts regarding the website are to be treated as outside the scope of professional development for scholars of all kinds. There are, however other factors to consider and steps which Librarians, especially, can take to alter this situation while improving and utilizing a widely-known, heavily used, currently self-administrated source of global Information.
A primary fact to remember is that Wikipedia is not Academia's knowledge, it is The World's knowledge. Information contained within the online encyclopedia covers an expanse that reaches into more modern-day topics, hot button issues, pop culture, and everyday life than peer-reviewed academic databases and journal articles. For instance, should an individual within or outside the walls of a University or College seek Information regarding the video game HALO, (a very famous sci-fi style first-person player), one would be quite hard-pressed to locate material that covers in-depth details of the game in an academic resource. Wikipedia, in contrast has a great deal of content regarding the game including production credits, financial returns, plot summaries, public reactions, and development details. Should a Student of any kind, however...