Monday, 24 May 2021

alternative wikipedias

The go-to place for information online is Wikipedia:

Reliability of Wikipedia - Wikipedia

Wikipedia is by far the largest online encyclopedia, and the number of errors it contains is on par with the professional sources even in specialized topics such as biology or medicine. Yet, the academic world is still treating it with great skepticism because of the types of inaccuracies present there, the widespread plagiarism from Wikipedia, and historic biases, as well as jealousy regarding the loss of the knowledge dissemination monopoly. This article argues that it is high time not only to acknowledge Wikipedia's quality but also to start actively promoting its use and development in academia.

Wikipedia: Why is the common knowledge resource still neglected by academics?

Wikipedia Is the Last Best Place on the Internet | WIRED

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Certainly it's a good starting point - and a place with lots of references:

How to Teach Students to Use Wikipedia | Edutopia

How Many References Do You Need To Get A Wikipedia Page? - Legalmorning

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It's also a good place to go with ESOL/EFL students - as the same article can be compared but in different languages. 

For example:

History of the Falkland Islands - Wikipedia

Historia de las islas Malvinas - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

Geschichte der Falklandinseln – Wikipedia

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Here's another example:

Articles about the same topics are written and edited independently of each other by authors in different languages. They may emphasize different aspects of issues; there might even be very different information. For example, entries about Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in March 2014, differ depending on the language. DW's fact-check team analyzed the German, Russian and Ukrainian entries. The German version called Crimea a "Ukrainian peninsula," while the Russian did not mention its belonging to Ukraine, though it acknowledged a territorial dispute. The entries contained most of the same basic factual information about the region, but the entries differed on more recent events: The Ukrainian version has a section called "Annexation of Crimea," but the Russian refers to the "Accession of Crimea to the Russian Federation." Most Russian entries on the topic fail to mention that the March 2014 referendum that led to Crimea's annexation was not considered legitimate by the government of Ukraine and many international institutions, which do not recognize the annexation either.

Fact check: As Wikipedia turns 20, how credible is it? | Europe| News and current affairs from around the continent | DW | 14.01.2021

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But there are alternatives, the most famous 'original' being:

Encyclopedia Britannica | Britannica

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For ESOL/EFL students, we have this excellent version:

https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

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And there are more:

Top 7 Alternatives to Wikipedia | OEDB.org

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There are several 'wikis' which challenge Wikipedia directly:

Conservapedia - RationalWiki

RationalWiki - Uncyclopedia

Wikipedia - Conservapedia

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This is a list of very strange 'alternatives':

5 Terrifying Bastardizations of the Wikipedia Model | Cracked.com

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