Wikipedia the Online Encyclopedia, Essay Example

Structure and purpose

Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia made up of free content provided by contributions.  It is an open editable system.  Anyone with Internet access can write to the site without pay.  The site is monitored for abuse and vandalism.  It is one of the largest online websites attracting 68 million visitors monthly [Jan 10].  The site is somewhat frowned upon by the academic community, particularly in  postgraduate research because it is not considered as a reliable factual source of information.

The site is well received by the general public, because it is a quick way of obtaining general information.  It is up to the individual to assess the validity of such information.  The structure of the site is very impressive with easy navigation and excellent search facilities.  The main page features the latest world news, current date news, featured  articles and pictures.  The site can be accessed in many other languages in addition to that of English.

Overall look and feel

Wikipedia appears to all age  groups, but particularly those that want to get their views over to a wide audience.  The main appeal to this site is the ability to a obtain e base information over a wide array of subjects.  It also provides links to other useful sites and as such often  a useful starting point  in order to mine deeper information from more  factual and academic sites.  By typing in a simple search criteria like research methods.  You are returned with an appropriate definition and a list of related subject area matter.  You can link to interesting relating words like Etymology that provides deep information on this particular subject area.  The site is of use in academic research, but the data presented requires validation from other sites.  Owing to the open format the integrity and reliability of the data is often questionable for academic purposes.  A more reliable source is that of Google scholar that she links to books and academic journals.

The overall look and feel is a bit dated in terms of its monochrome look but the overall navigation bars are good and it does provide an excellent number of useful links to other sites. The site is mainly aimed at students who wish to obtain base information on a particular subject area and then look for additional research material.  In this sense it is a good initial start point for searching out background information on a specific subject area.  The site is of particular personal benefit but the information obtained would need to be verified by cross-referencing to a number of other more reliable sources.  These open edit sites do have somewhat of a poor reputation in terms of data integrity and reliability is concerned.  Overall the site has benefit in terms of helping with research and obtaining sources for further content.  There are however other encyclopedia sites  that have increased reliability in terms of data integrity.  An example might be that of Brittanica[1]  and Hutchison’s[2]  there are other sources that provide more books and literature reviews like that of Questia[3] which is considered an academic learning site.

I am following up the link on the Open Directory Project (DMOZ) a multilingual open content directory of World Wide Web links.

[1] http://library.eb.co.uk/failedlogin?target=/

[2] http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/

[3] http://www.questia.com/Index.jsp