As WikiScanner reveals who has been tweeking whose sites on the world’s most popular online encylopaedia, Wikipedia, one can almost imagine many firms and organisations nervously re-enacting the scene from the Wizard of Oz : “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain-!”
The Wikiscanner software has suddenly brought to light a good deal of information that some people would’ve preffered not to be available as public knowledge. It also opens ethical issues such as: how “ok” is it to edit spin into a Wikipedia page knowing full well that it will be read and more-or-less trusted as virtual fact by the public?
A few articles and posts highlighting particularly interesting findings:
“Firms accused of rewriting their entry on Wikipedia” from the Times Online
“Software entarnt die Wikipedia fälscher” von die WELT ONLINE
“928 Anonymous Edits in Wikipedia by European Commission” in Conversationblog by Philippe Borremans
Wikiscanner page from Wikipedia (Deutsch)
Wikiscanner page from Wikipedia (Espanyol)
-PJT
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