Comparing Wikipedia to a traditional encyclopedia is an interesting venture. Our group chose to invesigate “Jainism” in 3 ways: Wikipedia, Britannica Online, & a printed Encyclopedia Americana.
Our findings:
- The Wikipedia entry is significantly longer, having 5 main subsections (Principles & Beliefs, History, Denominations, Symbolism, Culture) whereas Americana has only 2 subsections (History and Doctrines).
- Wikipedia and Britannica online are more comparable in content. However, Wikipedia has the added bonus of being pop-up free! (Major points in my opinion.)
- The printed Americana is a 1999 version. The last update to Wikipedia for the “Jainism” entry was today at 5:50 this morning. I need not elaborate on the benefits to having such up-to-date, current information.
- In thinking about such an entry in an American dictionary (Jainism is and Eastern religion), cultural bias issues arise. In print space is limited; editors undoubtedly choose to expound upon entries that are most relevant to Americans…thus, Christianity gets a bigger entry than Jainism. Yet through a venue like Wikipedia, people from anywhere in the world can contribute – US or India. Therefore, it is logical that the Wikipedia entry would be more complete, as it is not limited by space or by a population where perhaps 0.5% of us (or some very small number – I just made that one up) are Jainists.
To Sum Up: I’m becoming ever more convinced of Wikipedia’s usefulness & credibility as an official reference tool.
Great information here.
I think we really need to move with technology and wikipedia is a prime example of moving with the times