Some thoughts

After reading more about Wikipedia and the controversy surrounding it, I have come to a parallel of an idea that I've come up will through my research project. Multimedia allows everyone to contribute, create and share. Since the growth and expansion of the internet and since information has been made readily available, Wikipedia usage has become more and more discouraged by many of my teachers for the fear that the information will not be accurate and the research has already been put together. In my everyday life online, however, I find myself going to Wikipedia constantly. It is the simplest and easiest way to find a brief explanation of terms, history, etc., not to mention it is usually at the top of the list for Google's search results. With Wikipedia, anyone can be an expert contributor. But how much of the available information can we take seriously? Well, it has been my experience that most of the information I read is accurate, thanks to the editors employed by the site. If I find something that I think is questionable, I always have the option to search somewhere else to clarify the information and then flag or change anything on Wikipedia's page that may be inaccurate. The more that information is made readily available to us and research is compiled for us, it becomes our responsibility to double check what we are reading. I think that instead of all together dismissing Wikipedia as a useful source of information, we should be encouraged to contribute what we can to making the free information source more accurate by double checking the information and even adding to the information that is already there. Wikipedia provides people with a voice to share information they know about that may have otherwise not been shared. It is through resources and media like Wikipedia that our culture is becoming more participatory and interactive.