Join getAbstract to access the summary!

Wikipedia Is the Last Best Place on the Internet

Join getAbstract to access the summary!

Wikipedia Is the Last Best Place on the Internet

People used to think the crowdsourced encyclopedia represented all that was wrong with the web. Now it’s a beacon of so much that’s right.

Wired,

5 min read
5 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Cultural correspondent Richard Cooke details Wikipedia’s beginnings, culture and mind-boggling future.

Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
  • Background
  • Engaging

Recommendation

In this article for Wired, cultural correspondent Richard Clarke tracks the origins, the day-to-day functioning and the likely future of Wikipedia. He discusses how its founders first regarded it as an adjunct to another site; how “Wikignomes” keep the site up and running; how Alexa and Siri depend on Wikipedia for answers and will depend on it even more in the future; and why everyone who uses Wikipedia still remains slightly reluctant to cite it as a source. Clarke’s lively writing and lucid insights will captivate anyone who uses Wikipedia – that is, pretty much everyone.

Summary

Wikipedia has become today’s foremost knowledge source.

Today, Wikipedia is in the top 10 of the most visited sites on the internet, and it’s the only nonprofit on that short list. The English edition offers six million articles, tallying some 3.5 billion words. And yet, people still hold Wikipedia in slightly low regard. Few people willingly admit that they have gotten their information or opinion from a Wikipedia article.

Wikipedia remains free from specific cultural or political influences. It has no ads, no tracking of users and no visible trollers. It is an information source, a village, a library and, in its essence, a public gathering place. It hasn’t deviated from its initial mission: to provide, without charge, an encyclopedia of pretty much everything known – created by writers who earn not a penny. It’s hard to believe this place endures.

Wikipedia not only admits its own issues; it foments discussion about them on its own website. Many articles still suffer from poor writing and slipshod research. Fully 90% of its editors are men. Women and nonbinary writers suffer hacking, trolling and even murder...

About the Author

Richard Cooke has written for The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Paris Review and The New Republic. He is the author of On Robyn Davidson.


Comment on this summary

More on this topic

Learners who read this summary also read

Related Channels