Out of the Bag

Wiki World Just a White Elephant?

Noel Agnew

The Day Stephen Colbert was barred from the Web.....

While watching the Colbert Report, one feature in particular caught my eye. When the host logged onto the Wikipedia website he found several inaccuracies. In the article about George Washington, it was stated that the first President of the United States never owned slaves. The editor of the article? User Stephencolbert.

A ‘wiki’ is a website that allows users to edit content, with few restrictions. Wikipedia is a free-content encyclopedia, written by volunteers. No qualifications are necessary.

Launched in 2001, Wikipedia has been no stranger to controversy. In November 2005, journalist John Seigenthaler was the victim of defamation, with the website entry on him claiming that, “he was thought to be directly involved in the Kennedy assassinations of both John, and his brother, Bobby.” Seigenthaler, 78, had worked for Robert in the early 1960s. Incensed, he spoke out against the malicious lies: “We live in a universe of new media with phenomenal opportunities for worldwide communications and research – but populated by volunteer vandals with poison pens.” The culprit was eventually found to be the manager of a local delivery company in Tennessee. It was supposed to be a “joke,” he said.

Wikipedia undoubtedly has the potential to be a wonderful resource, but the fact remains that it is open to unscrupulous and inaccurate editing. Stephen Colbert calls it ‘wikiality’: the process of making something up, but getting enough people to agree with you so that it becomes reality. When Colbert urged viewers on his show to post the ‘fact’ that the elephant population had tripled in the last six months, they did so. Twenty articles on elephants were vandalized before the website placed them under a lock. An administrator blocked the user Stephencolbert from the site. Perhaps, as Colbert would say, the administrator “can’t handle the truthiness.”

Personally, I like Wikipedia. It is a fast, accessible source of information and has versions in over 200 languages. It is by the people, and for the people. In fact, I used it for this article. I also referenced it for an assignment in my Masters program last month. My essay was returned, however, with red marker pen through the reference and the scrawled words: “not an authoritative source!” I guess it’s true if you think about it. Everyone says “don’t believe everything you read in the papers.” So why would you, just because it’s online? - noel@brownscapeprod.com