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Wikipedia Gets State Funding in Germany

Posted by Zonk on from the we-could-use-some-state-support-too dept.

tmk writes "How can Wikipedia be improved? The German government started a project today to train experts to contribute to Wikipedia. The goal is to write or improve several hundred articles about renewable resources in the Internet encyclopedia. The project is funded by the German Ministry of Nutrition, Agriculture, and Consumer Protection. The German chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation is hiring a Wikipedian to coordinate the efforts. 'The challenge will be to motivate experts who have done good work in other projects to get involved in the community lexicon. As project director Florian Gerlach told heise online, "Such expert reports are usually written, edited, and published in the normal newspapers or even on other websites. But Wikipedia is radically different: articles there continually grow with input from numerous authors, who often remain anonymous. The end product is constantly changing, and third parties can publish their own texts or even change yours." The future authors will therefore receive some training to help them work with Wikipedia.'"

2 of 157 comments (clear)

  1. Wikipedia useless for non-orthodox thinking. by Fantastic+Lad · · Score: 1, Flamebait
    So what? Wikipedia is already run by the dark side on every issue which actually matters that I've ever looked up on it.

    Wikipedia seems to be run entirely by science geeks who never figured out that highschool and TV are brainwashing tactics. How sad for a bunch who supposedly take pride in using their brains that they should have been so easily tricked.

    Thus, in Wikipedia, if it doesn't fit with conventional wisdom, it isn't in there.

    This is fine if I need to look up how jet engines work or what the capital of Sweden is, but if you want to look up anything which hedges into areas which are controlled, then you might as well forget it. You'll just get loads of false wisdom spat at you with cult-like vehemence.

    The genius of the New Big Brother is that Thought is self-policed these days. Who needs Orwell?

    Congratulations, humanity. That paper bag trap is going to baffle you for a long time yet.


    -FL

  2. Re:University students could contribute a lot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Haha!

    Don't get me wrong, I love wikipedia. I read it hours a day and its gotten me through some weird mental tangents and abstract questions. But....

    As a university student I laugh at wikipedia. Almost every class I have had this semester has ended with me defacing or introducing hilarious wrongisms into it. (during the lecture, wifi, If I get banned, renew a new DHCP lease)

    Id say 80% of the crap that me and my friends have 'contributed' to wikipedia is still there. When it gets through edit wars (people actually REVERTING to our changes), you know that knowledge has just been created. The countless sites that spider wikipedia (answers.com, etc) replicate the bullshit re-enforce it all. Mods that fact check your lies usually just do a search on the keyword and if they find enough hits, its fact.

    Awesome!