Final+Project,+Michael+Dutra


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 * Remember back in the old days when you had to do a research paper for school? It meant you had to go to the library and go look in books. Then you had to go through a process of reading tons of books and finding the right information. I used the walking dead wikipeda today to find out about a level. [] **
 * Oh remember in the old days when you and your friends had an argument about something? Now you can just hop online and hop on wikipedia. It is like magic! **


 * Wikipedia is an free online website that has over 22 million articles that people can collaboratively edit and use. it is a very useful tool of the internet, and many people all over the world use this tool. When Wikipedia started it was an innovative way to do research online, it is one of the most popular web sites to date, and the web site is still making exciting changes and evolving for the future. **


 * “Wikipedia began as a complementary project for [|Nupedia], a free online [|English-language encyclopedia] project whose articles were written by experts and reviewed under a formal process. Nupedia was founded on March 9, 2000, under the ownership of [|Bomis, Inc] , a [|web portal] company.” [|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia#History] Wikipedia formally launched on January 15 2001. It was an English web site at [|www.wikipedia.com.] It quickly grew in popularity and many articles were added the first year. Wikipedia had over 20,000 articles and over 18 languages by the end of 2001. In September 9, 2007 the English wikipedia had over 2 million articles. That made the english wikipedia the largest encyclopedia ever created. Even surpassing the record holder for over 600 years the 407 [|Yongle Encyclopedia] . In 2007 wikipedia was listed as one of the most visited websites in the United States. It was ranked number nine. In may 2012 wikipedia was revealed to be one of the most popular websites worldwide. Ranking to be the sixth most popular web site according to [|Alexa Internet] . Wikipedia receives more than 2.7 billion page veiwers every month in the U.S. and over 12 billion globally. That is a lot of people using wikipedia! In On January 18, 2012 the English Wikipedia participated in a protest against a copyright law that was trying to pass. For 24 hours wikipedia had this page up [[image:https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/785fdkjsI8XquRGyGmS25Y2pfq_5Lu-kyh6nXtDptMDMLHlsOQHqbr1nxfGCpd6ajpn2F0lwABbLsLOszFZd2TobZWXWka5GG-Iscgr5Kb-_oDiOsU8 width="800px;" height="390px;"]] **


 * Even though wikipedia is a great tool, it has its problems and disadvantages. Because anyone can edit wikipedia, some of the information on the web site may be wrong or misleading. Many teachers say that you should not only use wikipedia as a reference tool. Many of the people that vandalize these pages are quickly caught, but sometimes it can take months to catch the editing. The founder Jimmy Wales says “ "No, I don't think people should cite it, and I don't think people should cite Britannica, either... People shouldn't be citing encyclopedias in the first place. Wikipedia and other encyclopedias should...give good, solid background information to inform your studies for a deeper level." Many teachers say that you can use wikipedia as a starting point, but you should definitely not use it as a primary reference tool. **


 * There are steps to take to make sure that the wikipedia article is accurate. There are wikipedia pages specifically for education, so that you can make sure that they have a credible source. Wikibooks are also a great way to get credible sources. **


 * Wikipedia also has controversy over the information that is shared on the web site. There are self described group called wikileaks. Wikileaks was founded on October 4th 2006. It means that people share information that is private and classified media. “ In April 2010, WikiLeaks published gunsight footage from the [|12 July 2007 Baghdad airstrike] in which Iraqi journalists were among those killed by an [|Apache] helicopter, known as the [|Collateral Murder] video.” [] . They have had much controversy and legal troubles as you can imagine. **


 * There is also criticism of the right of individuals privacy.Many people put up pages of peopel who want to stay private. Since everyone is anonymous on wikipedia, they can make multiple accounts to influence an argument. **


 * As I mentioned before, Wikepidia is a very large web site. It cost a tremendous amount of money to keep such a large web site running. Last year Wikimedia foundation put up banners that expressed how they needed donations to keep the web site going. In January 2012 they received over 20 million dollars from donations. The money will help put up new servers, new tools for the wikipedia sites and other hardware. **


 * A new report has come out that shows the slow decline of english editors. [[image:https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/JFZStF3opy-tDhKO2oUluq8xTVPI4zIa_peP2syBjA5pCgEzENRDGZsS4mDPy5n_jVYGqk8LD7pWVDAK3bWKffuPgynnzlQAD1Bjb_9OOJkB4CiU2wQ width="615px;" height="410px;"]] **


 * "We are not replenishing our ranks," Wales [|said] . "It is not a crisis, but I consider it to be important." It seems like wikipedia might be running out of steam. Back when wikipedia started in 2001, it seemed that the growth of wikipedia was limitless. Many different factors could be attributed to the decline in editors and contributors. It seems that all of the articles have already been written. All of the “important articles have already been written on. There is few new things to make or write about. Also the new tools and interface has some users frustrated. Some users find the new rules of wikipedia also off putting. **
 * Many skeptics have said that wikipedia will run out of money and will have to put up ads eventually. Wikipedia is starting a campaign for more users to start posting. Wikipedia is asking professors to start editing wikipedia. It is also expanding its Wikibooks. Wikibooks can be a more reliable source of education. They are also adding a new feature called Wikilove. Wikilove is a new feature that lets you show your appreciation for the editors. You click on the heart to show the love. You can also easily customize the wikilove. You can leave welcome messages,hedgehogs, and birthday cakes. **


 * Despite the criticism, Wikipedia is still one of the most visited web sites around the world. Many people depend on wikipedia for knowledge and information. Many people take pride in writing an article about a subject that they are very passionate and knowledgeable about. It is is no doubt in my mind that wikipedia is a great tool in an educational since. Wikipedia connects millions of people around the world to knowledge. Wikipedia is also great because of the communities. Some people describe the communities as “cult like.” I love the wiki’s created just for a television show or video game. Like the walking dead wiki I mentioned earlier. You can tell that the people that made the wiki are huge fans that put a lot of detail into their editing. **


 * I think that wikipedia will be able to evolve and stay strong despite all of the negative things that people have said about it. Wikipedia has an interesting history,interesting community, it shares of criticism,it is a free non profit site and is still one of the most used web sites after an decade.I know that I will continue to get my homework done thanks to wikipedia. Thanks Jimmy Wales! **