Wikis+as+journalistic+tools

Wikis as journalistic tools

A central concept behind a wiki is the ability of the community using it to add, edit, and delete the entries within it. Much like the concept behind open-source software wikis work on a self-cleaning method: the community as a whole can collectively rid the entries of errors better than a few contributors ever could. But what about the use of wikis within the world of journalism? What, if any, place within the field does and should wikis play?

In 2005, //Esquire// magazine writer A.J. Jacobs performed an experiment. He wrote a typo-riddled factually inaccurate article about Wikipedia and posted it to see whether changes would be made.

The following is an excerpt of Jacobs's [|original draft]: "For those haven't looked at Diderot's Encyclopedie recently, you should know that it is hopelessly incomplete. For instance, it lacks entry on Exploding Whales. There's nothing on Troll Metal (rock music about goblins that eat Christians), autofellatio (a form of masturbation that be traced to the Egyptian creation myth) or Dr. Bombay (the physician warlock on Bewitched). No, you can only find those entries in one encyclopedia: The Wikipedia, the Encyclopedia that was launched in 2001 and has become biggest, most wide-ranging, most untamed reference work in history."

The community responded by editing the article 224 times in the first 24 hours after its posting and another 149 times in the next 24 hours. The community appears to have passed the test put forth by Jacobs. Not mentioned in this article is the accuracy of the edits, so while many users can certainly improve a singular article, time will tell about the reliability of many users editing many articles.

=
The results of the experiment showed that the Wiki was edited 62 times and was felt to be more ‘punchy,’ which is the style that was requested. Wales suggests the results indicate the usefulness of Wikis for journalism. He believes that articles can be more robust by using the collaborative approach but cautions against this practice. Although user contributions can have their benefits such as providing more information and ideas and editing works, companies still need to be sure they monitor the content. =====

For more on how Wikis are being used in the news see Wikis in the newsroom Sources: Terdiman, Daniel. //[|Esquire wikis article on Wikipedia]//. CNET News, 29 Sept. 2005. Web. 5 Nov. 2011.