Nature reports "Internet encyclopaedias go head to head"
"Wikipedia comes close to Britannica in terms of the accuracy of its science entries,a Nature investigation finds". The article says, "in the study,entries were chosen from the websites of Wikipedia and Encyclopaedia Britannica on a broad range of scientific disciplines and sent to a relevant expert for peer review. Each reviewer examined the entry on a single subject from the two encyclopaedias;they were not told which article came from which encyclopaedia. A total of 42 usable reviews were returned out of 50 sent out, and were then examined by Nature's news team. Only eight serious errors,such as misinterpretations of important concepts,were detected in the pairs of articles reviewed, four from each encyclopaedia. But reviewers also found many factual errors, omissions or misleading statements ..."
I don't know about you, but I personally don't see and use an encyclopedia as authority on subject I know, but as a starting point on accessing a subject I don't know about.
via Smart Mops
Saturday, December 17, 2005
