Wikipedia
by Graham Brown
ikipedia is a portmanteau which is a word formed by combining two or more words. In this case wiki and encyclopedia .
And a wiki is a web application that allows users to add content, as on an Internet forum , but also allows anyone to edit the content. The term Wiki also refers to the collaborative software used to create such a website ( see Wiki software ).
I know that because I looked it up in the brilliant Wikipedia which is an online encyclopedia that can be " wiki "ed
Which all leads up to my main definition of Wikipedia
A brilliant encyclopedia to rival any you have seen, free to use on the internet, full of authoritative and interetesting information, written by anyone who happens to want to write for it. Editable INSTANTLY by anyone reading any page and with people free to battle it out to see which view wins out when a subject or a fact about an entry is contentious.
No I'm not facing you on "Call my Bluff" and if I was my card would have a big TRUE written on it.
But how can something that can be editied by any reader have any stability or authority!? Don't ask me, it baffles me completely but just go take a look and you will see that it has both. Check out your hobby or something you know well and you will see that it is written to an incredibale amount of detail.
There are some slight errors occasionally, I saw "Photoes" on one page. But every paragraph has an edit button, I clicked it and changed it to "Photos" and it changed immediately!!
I suppose I could have changed it to potatoes but I guess either people don't the site is good at tracking and checking changes. Maybe also the software can track if the change is silly!
To give a flavour here is just the first bit from the entry for portmanteau . As you can see it is full of hypertext links to other definitions.
This word was coined by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There , in which it is likened to a travelling case . Carroll has Humpty Dumpty say, "Well, slithy means lithe and slimy ... You see it's like a portmanteau -there are two meanings packed up into one word." Carroll used such words to humorous effect in his poems, especially Jabberwocky , which Humpty Dumpty is explaining to Alice.
See full entry .
But if you think that is good, you should see the entries for bigger subjet areas, especially ones where there is debate to be had such as Politics, Physics, History etc.
The real punch of Wikipedia is found not just in the entries, but in the history and discussion pages. There are also pertinant external links at the bottom.
It is sometimes said that you can't rely on the internet for searching out information. The argument goes that it is a bit of a free for all and that all sorts of weird and wonderful theories turn up. In addition there is no editing going on and all sorts of rubbish can get through.
But Wikipedia combines 2 words and also 2 concepts, the wildest of oddball theories with the authority of a dusty old tome, just don't ask me how because I have nothing to add to that topic!
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