A balance between idiot and disbeliever
By Charles Miller December 19, 2008 San Miguel de Allende
Meetings & Lectures

My column a few weeks back concerning the popular website Wikipedia brought several responses from Atención readers. Wikipedia has become a hot topic because entering almost any search in Google puts an article on www.wikipedia among the top hits.

The great strength of the internet is its openness and ability to make readily available information sources that would have taken great effort to research only a decade ago. The downside is that with so much freedom and access to so much information, it can be difficult to distinguish between accurate information and that which is not.

All internet users should find it constructive to develop the habit of challenging what was/is presented as “fact” while using the resources of the internet to verify from independent sources. A balance needs to be found somewhere between the gullible idiot who believes anything he or she reads (both on the internet and in line at the supermarket) and the antagonistic disbeliever who can never be convinced of anything. This is a learned skill which many internet users do not possess.

The first lesson everyone needs to learn is that all Wikipedia articles are required to be sourced. At the bottom of every article you should find a list of footnotes and references. That is the way it is supposed to be and the absence of references should be your first clue as to the veracity of the information. If the page you just read is not referenced, then treat it with skepticism. When possible, and it almost always is possible, you should check accuracy by consulting more than one source.

Wikipedia is too often used by people who offer opinion to further their own agenda. This is made all the more difficult when both sides of an argument have facts and figures that appear to support their position. It never ceases to amaze me how two people are able to look at the same set of data and arrive at completely different interpretations.

In San Miguel, among all our artists and writers, there is probably going to be some sympathy for the individual who sees Wikipedia as a blank canvas on which to express creativity.

Recently, an employee of a British telemarketing company (and apparently a frustrated unpublished author) created an elaborate fictional biography for himself on Wikipedia. Writing under the pseudonym Captain Sir Alan, the author claimed to have been a highly decorated officer in Her Majesty’s Parachute Regiment, who participated in more adventures than Conan Doyle’s Brigadier Gerard. The charade was finally exposed, but not before it had gone on for two years.

This is probably the reason Wikipedia has been called by its detractors “a chat room for morons.” Others have called it the end of scholarship and civilization.

To be sure, inaccuracies are found in Wikipedia as they are also found in history books, encyclopedias, magazines and newspapers. Wikipedia has flaws, but they are being found and there is a vehicle for correcting them.

Wikipedia is only one outgrowth of the information age, one that we are all learning to use and manage. Used properly, Wikipedia is a fantastic tool for learning. If the inaccuracies in Wikipedia serve to teach us all to research information and do our homework, then it has served a very good purpose.

Charles Miller is a freelance computer consultant, a frequent visitor to San Miguel since 1981, and now practically a full-time resident. He may be contacted at 044-415-101-8528 or email FAQ8 (at) SMAguru.com.