How Wikis Influenced Encyclopedias (Week 3)

             A Wiki is a publication that can be edited by multiple people and sometimes is guided by its readers. Furthermore, typical Wikis have a broad discussion about the subjects which may be a helpful piece of information for its audience. In the modern world, most people use Wikipedia as a way of understanding the desired subject, especially if they do not want to spend much time researching elsewhere. It is also noteworthy to mention that when we search for some topic or subject on Internet the first webpage that we mainly see is Wikipedia, as well. To broaden this topic, I would like to analyze how Wikis impacted its area which is commonly known as an encyclopedia.

Wikis to Encyclopedias

         The encyclopedia is either a book or multiple books that can assist people in learning a single or many subjects in a detailed way [1]. As we can see from the definition of the encyclopedia, it is quite similar to the Wiki. Some people even call Wikis a modern “encyclopedia”. This similarity can be in some ways acceptable as Wikis have really been impactful in their own areas. One of those impacts is the ease of reachability of Wikis. For example, in the past when there were no Wikis people would go to libraries looking for a specific encyclopedia that will help them to learn something regarding that subject; however, Wikis made it easier for us as we can look up the same information by searching in different Wiki websites. Another case would be that Wikis brought a great feature that lets its audience not only read the required subject matter but also access topics that are closely related to the previously searched content. For instance, if I search for “Max Verstappen” in Wikipedia and read through that Wiki page I may notice some words or terms that I may not understand but this page would include a hyperlink that would forward me to another Wiki page that explains the specific term/word.

[source: https://et.Wikipedia.org/Wiki/Ingliskeelne_Vikipeedia]

Besides these good impacts, Wikis also brought some bad influences on the world of encyclopedias. One of those negative impacts is that while encyclopedias are “definitive and authoritative” writings, the same fact cannot be applied to Wikis [2]. This makes Wikis an unreliable source, especially for academic writings. The main reason behind this is that it is easy to change some facts in Wikipedia which makes it a source that should be avoided in academic writings. In addition, it is worth noting that encyclopedias are written by popular experts and researchers while to either write or edit a Wiki page you have to be an “experienced” candidate [3].

Conclusion

            In conclusion, Wikis have brought several positive impacts to its sphere, but it also resulted in some bad influences. Regardless of its bad sides, such as the possibility of false information people still use it as Wiki requires little or less work to search for the desired subject.

 

References

[1]	"Oxford Learner's Dictionaries," [Online]. Available: https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/encyclopedia#:~:text=%2F%C9%AAn%CB%8Csa%C9%AAkl%C9%99%CB%88pi%CB%90di%C9%99%2F-,%2F%C9%AAn%CB%8Csa%C9%AAkl%C9%99%CB%88pi%CB%90di%C9%99%2F,an%20encyclopedia%20of%20music. [Accessed 2022 January 31].
[2]	"Difference Between Wikipedia and Encyclopedia," Difference Between, [Online]. Available: https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-wikipedia-and-vs-encyclopedia/#:~:text=Wikipedia%20is%20a%20sea%20of,is%20growing%20by%20the%20minute.&text=Encyclopedias%20are%20literary%20works%20that,cannot%20be%20said%20about%20Wikipedia.. [Accessed 31 January 2022].
[3]	"Difference between Wikipedia and Encyclopedia," Difference Between, [Online]. Available: http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-between-wikipedia-and-encyclopedia. [Accessed 31 January 2022].