Reading Report #2

Reading Report #2

     In summary, the article “Is Wikipedia a Victim of Its Own Success” expands upon Wikipedia and the cessation of its growth. Also, it talks about the pretty limited range of contributors to the website. That being young, educated men who live in wealthy countries. The article also touches on Wikipedia being monitored by administrators to increase the level of its reliability. There are multiple theories as to why Wikipedia’s growth has stunted. Some people feel as though the effort to somewhat control Wikipedia has actually aided the hindering of its growth. Others believe that there is not much else knowledge to be added to the site which leaves only formatting to be done. Lastly, some deem that Wikipedia has experienced an ecosystem downfall. Wikimedia foundation is working on ways to expand and increase the Wikipedia population of contributors. They have many goals set in place.

     First of all in Wikipedia’s peak years on the internet, I used them pretty often for reports and projects in school. However in the past couple of years, I have actually not used them nearly as much. The fact that the knowledge comes from all over actually halts some people’s belief in the accuracy of Wikipedia. Some of my professors would not even accept it as a true source. Secondly, I can definitely see how Wikipedia would be contributed to by a small range of people. I, myself, would most likely never post information on Wikipedia. For some reason, I feel that I am still in a learning phase of my life and would not want to post any inaccurate information on there. I believe that a lot of people probably feel the same and would agree with me on that reasoning. This may be why there is a struggle to expand the range of contributors. Thirdly, I agree with people saying the attempt to increase Wikipedia’s reliability has decreased its growth of contributors. I feel that this would hinder people from posting false or biased information on Wikipedia, which in return, could stunt the growth. However, I feel that Wikimedia foundation doing this is essential to the website’s longtime survival. It will not last long, unless they make sure to hold on to the website’s trustworthiness. Lastly, I have to disagree with the people who feel that there is no more knowledge to be added to the site but just maintenance work. As our world continues to grow so will knowledge. I do not think that in our lifetime there will be a cap on the amount of knowledge that is to be shared. I really do hope that the Wikimedia foundation can continue to make and accomplish goals to keep Wikipedia a top website of information. I honestly believe that it is a unique asset to the world today.