Algorithm Rates Trustworthiness of Wikipedia Pages

paleshadows writes "Researchers at UCSC developed a tool that measures the trustworthiness of each Wikipedia page. Roughly speaking, the algorithm analyzes the entire 7-year user-editing-history and utilizes the longevity of the content to learn which contributors are the most reliable: If your contribution lasts, you gain 'reputation,' whereas if it's edited out, your reputation falls. The trustworthiness of a newly inserted text is a function of the reputation of all its authors, a heuristic that turned out to be successful in identifying poor content. The interested reader can take a look at this demonstration (random page with white/orange background marking trusted/untrusted text, respectively; note "random page" link at the left for more demo pages), this presentation (pdf), and this paper (pdf)."

Comments

Algorithms are handy

[rinkjustice]

when things can be quantified and measurable. I've always wondered about the algorithm of a brand's worth. What is the logo's value, in relation to the slogan, and the consumer experience?

For instance, Google has a strong brand, despite their hideous logo and "Don't be evil" slogan, because the consumer experience is so good. Coca-Cola, on the other hand, score big with their logo's distinctive cursive script, despite ongoing critisms of its health effects and numerous allegations of wrongdoing by the company. And their product just isn't that good.

Man, I would loves me an algorithm for that.