ggratton 's personal annotations on this page
Ggratton bookmarked
on 2008-04-14
-
There is a tentative consensus, backed by a gradual increase in academic citation as a source, that it provides a good starting point for research, and that articles in general have proven to be reasonably sound.
This link has been bookmarked by 20 people . It was first bookmarked on 19 Nov 2006, by Moultrie Creek.
-
-
The domain was eventually changed to the present wikipedia.org when the not-for-profit Wikimedia Foundation was launched as its new parent organization, prompting the use of a ".org" domain to denote its non-commercial nature
-
-
-
This page is an introduction for visitors to the Wikipedia
project. There is also an encyclopedia article about the topic: Wikipedia. For an introduction to
editing on Wikipedia, see the introduction.English
Wikipedia right nowWikipedia is running MediaWiki
version 1.16alpha-wmf(r59476).It has 3,110,699 articles, and 18,695,801 pages in total. There have been 349,848,569 edits. There are 870,489 uploaded files. There are 11,099,735 registered users,
including 1,703 administrators.This information is correct as of 15:44 on November 30,
2009.Wikipedia (pronounced /ˌwiːkiˈpiːdi.ə/, WEE-kee-PEE-dee-ə
or /ˌwɪkɨˈpiːdi.ə/,
WI-ki-PEE-dee-ə)
is a multilingual, web-based, free-content encyclopedia project based on
an openly-editable model. The name "Wikipedia" is a portmanteau of the words wiki (a technology for creating collaborative websites, from the Hawaiian word
wiki, meaning "quick") and encyclopedia. Wikipedia's articles provide
links to guide the user to related pages with additional information.Wikipedia is written collaboratively by an
international group of volunteers. Anyone with internet access
can write and make changes to Wikipedia articles. There are no requirements to
provide one's real name when contributing; rather, each writer's privacy is
protected unless they choose to reveal their identity themselves. Since its
creation in 2001, Wikipedia has
grown rapidly into one of the largest reference web sites,
attracting around 65
million visitors monthly as of 2009. There are more than 85,000 active contributors working on more than 14,000,000
articles in more than 260 languages. As of today, there are
3,110,699 articles in English. Every day, hundreds of thousands of
visitors from around the world collectively make tens of thousands of edits and
create thousands of new articles to augment the knowledge held by the Wikipedia encyclopedia. (See also:
Wikipedia:Statistics.)Visitors do not need specialized qualifications to contribute. Wikipedia's
intent is to have articles that cover existing knowledge, not create new
knowledge (original research). This means that people of all ages and cultural
and social backgrounds can write Wikipedia articles.
Most of the articles can be edited by anyone with access to the Internet, simply by clicking the
edit this page link. Anyone
is welcome to add information, cross-references, or citations, as long as they
do so within Wikipedia's editing policies and to an
appropriate standard. Substandard or disputed information is subject to removal.
Users need not worry about accidentally damaging Wikipedia when adding or
improving information, as other editors are always around
to advise or correct obvious errors, and Wikipedia's software is carefully
designed to allow easy reversal of editorial mistakes.Because Wikipedia is an ongoing
work to which, in principle, anybody can contribute, it differs from a
paper-based reference source in important ways. In particular, older articles
tend to be more comprehensive and balanced, while newer articles more frequently
contain significant misinformation, unencyclopedic content, or vandalism. Users
need to be aware of this to obtain valid information and avoid misinformation
that has been recently added and not yet removed (see Researching with
Wikipedia for more details). However, unlike a paper reference source,
Wikipedia is continually updated, with the creation or updating of articles on
topical events within seconds, minutes, or hours, rather than months or years
for printed encyclopedias.What Wikipedia is will give an
understanding of how to consult or contribute to Wikipedia. Further information
on key topics appears below. Further advice is at Frequently asked questions, advice for parents, or see
Where to ask
questions. For help with editing and other issues, see Help:Contents.
<script type="text" />
//<![CDATA[
if (window.showTocToggle) { var tocShowText = "show"; var tocHideText = "hide"; showTocToggle(); }
//]>
</script>
-
-
Lynn YangVisitors do not need specialized qualifications to contribute. Wikipedia's
intent is to have articles that cover existing knowledge, not create new
knowledge (original research). This means that people of all ages and cultural
and social backgrounds
can write Wikipedia articles
.
Most of the articles can be
edited
by anyone with access to the
Internet
, simply by clicking the
edit this page
link
. Anyone
is welcome to add information, cross-references, or citations, as long as they
do so within Wikipedia's
editing policies
and to an
appropriate standard. Substandard or disputed information is subject to removal.
Users need not worry about accidentally damaging Wikipedia when adding or
improving information, as
other editors
are always around
to advise or correct obvious errors, and Wikipedia's software is carefully
designed to allow easy reversal of editorial mistakes.
Because
Wikipedia
is an ongoing
work to which, in principle, anybody can contribute, it differs from a
paper-based reference source in important ways. In particular, older articles
tend to be more comprehensive and balanced, while newer articles more frequently
contain significant misinformation, unencyclopedic content, or
vandalism
. Users
need to be aware of this to obtain valid information and avoid misinformation
that has been recently added and not yet removed (see
Researching with
Wikipedia
for more details). However, unlike a paper reference source,
Wikipedia is continually updated, with the creation or updating of articles on
topical events within seconds, minutes, or hours, rather than months or years
for printed encyclopedias.
What Wikipedia is not
will give
an understanding of how to consult or contribute to Wikipedia. Further
information on key topics appears below. Further advice is at
Frequently asked
questions
,
advice for parents
, or see
Where to ask
questions
. For help with editing and other issues, see
Help:Conten -
-
-
Wikipedia (pronounced /ˌwiːkiˈpiːdiə/ or /ˌwɪkəˈpiːdiə/) is a multilingual, Web-based, free-content encyclopedia project. The name "Wikipedia" is a portmanteau (a combination of portions of two words and their meanings) of the words wiki (a type of collaborative Web site) and encyclopedia. Wikipedia's articles provide links to guide the user to related pages with additional information.
-
-
-
There is a tentative consensus, backed by a gradual increase in academic citation as a source, that it provides a good starting point for research, and that articles in general have proven to be reasonably sound.
-
-
-
Wikipedia is hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a non-profit organization that also hosts a range of other projects:
Commons
Free media repository
Wikinews
Free-content news
Wiktionary
Dictionary and thesaurus
Wikiquote
Collection of quotations
Wikibooks
Free textbooks and manuals
Wikisource
Free-content library
Wikispecies
Directory of species
Wikiversity
Free learning materials and activities
Meta-Wiki
Wikimedia project coordination
-
-
Shanta RohseAnyone who visits Wikipedia can edit it. This page suggests some ways to best make use of this resource.
Would you like to comment?
Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.