Wikipedia Story

1. What did wiki software allow Web users to do that the Mosaic browser did not? Wiki allowed users to change the content of the webpage which is something Mosaic browser can not do.
2. What do blogs and wikis have in common? Blogging encouraged user generated content which is what Wiki is about.
3. What problem did a young Jimmy Wales find with the World Book Encyclopedia? The problem with the World Book Encyclopedia is that not everything was included and content was missing.
4. How was Jimmy Wales inspired by the World Book Encyclopedia to create Wikipedia? He was inspired by the World Book Encyclopedia to create Wikipedia because as a kid he used to update the encyclopedia with stickers.
5. How have encyclopedias inspired you in your own life? The books themselves have not done anything for me in my life but Wikipedia has. It has helped me with research on anything i wanted to know about or needed to know about fro school.
6. Why did Nupedia fail? Only a dozen articles had been published and the process became unpleasant 
7. How did wiki software change the ideas behind Nupedia? It became a simple editorial system.
8. What is “crowdsourcing?” Listing the service of the number of people paid or unpaid on the internet.
9. What do you think about the concept of “any fool in the world” being able to write articles for Wikipedia? I think that it is an interesting idea but there are people who do things to mess with others and those people can changes the right details to the wrongs ones just for a laugh.
10. Do agree with the idea that “total idiots” could edit Wikipedia and of that being a good thing? Explain. No, because that is what makes Wikipedia fun and what draws people to it.
11. Why do you think Wikipedia grew so fast and became so popular in such a short amount of time? It was made very clear that Nupedia had no connection to Wikipedia.
12. Do you believe Sanger’s elitist attitude was a good thing or a bad thing for Wikipedia? A bad thing because he didn't have faith in Wikipedia and was dragging the Wikipedia community down.
13. What did you learn from the anecdote about the Wikipedia article on Einstein going to Albania for a passport in 1935? I learned that even the people who work for Wikipedia are editing not just for the sites sake but for the sake of other people to rely on the site.
14. Explain this quote from the article: “I can’t imagine who could have written such detailed guidelines other than a bunch of people working together...It’s common in Wikipedia that we’ll come to a solution that’s really well thought out because so many minds have had a crack at improving it.”  This means that there is never just one opinion on a topic and they all work together to make the site a reliable website to use.
15. The author of the article states that Wikipedia “grew organically.” What does he mean by that? It means that it grew naturally by popularly and by the people.
16. How has Wikipedia “been the greatest collaborative knowledge project in history?”  The material on the site is contributed for free and it is available for the public for free.
17. Based on your own opinion and experience with Wikipedia, do you agree with the above statement or disagree with it? Explain. I do not agree that Wikipedia is the greatest knowledge project in history because of the fact that people can change it and out false facts on it. When this is done and lets just say students want to use the site for a project there could be false facts that would affect the students grade.
18. What does the author mean by “wiki-crack?”  He means that It’s like a rush of dopamine that hits the brain’s pleasure center when a smart edit is made and it appears instantly in the Wikipedia article.
19. Based on the article, do you believe Wikipedia is a reliable source of information? No I do not because people can put false information in an article that students might want to use for a project.
20. Do you believe its possible for a 16-year-old from New Jersey to write “insightful” Wikipedia articles? Yes I do because there are very talented and intelligent kids everywhere and most authors started at a young age.
21. How do you feel about basing your own research on something a 16-year-old wrote on Wikipedia? I would be very leery of it because what if the kid is just fooling around and writes an article that isn't remotely true.
22. What does Jimmy Wales mean by this mission statement: “Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge?” He means what if every single person on this earth got a free education on everything that has ever gone on in human life. The world would be a much better place with more jobs and less poverty.
23. Do you agree or disagree with this mission statement? I agree because if there was a world like that we wouldn't be having the problems that we have in the world today.
24. Do you think Wikipedia has succeeded in its mission? I think Wikipedia set a goal for itself and achieved that goal of having an online encyclopedia that can be edited by the general public.
25. Do you agree or disagree that ordinary people, people without degrees, can “be part of the process of creating and distributing knowledge?”  I agree that they can because there are people that don't have college degrees that have achieved great things and have great jobs. Having a degree doesn't affect the intelligence that people have.
26. Based on your reading of the article, would you yourself use Wikipedia for your academic research? no I would not because people can change details to false facts which would affect my grade in school.
27. Would you yourself like to write and/or edit Wikipedia articles in order to be “a part of the process of creating and distributing knowledge?” Why or why not? No because if I have a wrong detail I don't want to be responsible for affecting a students grade, but on the other hand I would because if I don't have any false information it can actually help someone and that would be a gratifying feeling.