[Air-l] Wikipedia (reply for Mark Bell)

[Luis Gutierrez]

>Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 19:55:33 -0400
>From: "Mark Bell" <typewritermark at gmail.com>
>Subject: Re: [Air-l] Wikipedia Bibliography
>To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
>Message-ID:
>	<732865eb0704261655h66a4f228p41dcdb000ee3bd5f at mail.gmail.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
>Phoebe,
>
>I just joined the Wiki research group and I will post it there. Thanks for
>the heads up.
>
>Here is the abstract of my thesis:
>
>The Transformation of the Encyclopedia:  A Textual Analysis and Comparison
>of the *Encyclop?dia Britannica* and *Wikipedia*
>The purpose of this thesis is to explore the following research question:
>Are there grammatical textual differences between *Encyclop?dia Britannica*and
>*Wikipedia*? Specifically, this study will focus on the articles for
>"Communism" and "Dwight D. Eisenhower" that appear in the online version of
>Encyclop?dia* Britannica* and *Wikipedia*. Using a grammatical textual
>analysis, the study finds there is little difference grammatically
>between*Encyclop?dia Britannica
>* and *Wikipedia* though they are very different types of systems. There are
>several different types of textual or contextual methods that could expand
>on this initial approach to find differences between* Encyclop?dia
>Britannica* and *Wikipedia*.
>
>what are you doing with Wiki's?
>  
>
Mark, I do a lot of online research, and wikipedia is my first stop, 
then google, then more specialized databases if needed.  For instance, 
for biographical and bibliographical research, I feel lucky if the 
person of interest is in wikipedia.  The wikipedia article gives me an 
overview of the person's life and work, and often a rather complete 
bibliography.  It also gives me external links where I should go for 
more information.  Then I will go to the heavyweights such as the LOC 
and the WBIS in order to double check the wiki information; many times I 
don't find anything new.  With most library databases now requiring 
subscription or pay by view, I still manage to get most of the 
information I need for free.

Luis


-- 
Luis T. Gutierrez, Ph.D.
Editor, "Solidarity, Sustainability, and Non-Violence"
Home page: http://pelicanweb.org/solisust.html
Current issue: http://pelicanweb.org/solisustv03n04.html
Email: luisgutierrez at peoplepc.com