It's an exact science. Every time, without fail, I can walk away from my desk and the phone will ring. Often times I am in a position (quite literally) where I can't just drop what I'm doing to run and get the phone. But I can be sitting at my desk for literally two hours without getting up and the phone wont ring the entire time.
Why is Wikipedia the end all for referencing information? I posed this question in my last blog. I have not thought about this one enough yet but here are a few ideas. 1. Conformity and Compatibility. I know this statement is a fallacy but since everyone references Wikipedia, everyone references it. I dont mean literally everyone, its just an overstatement. Anyway, it's the same concept of a majority of the world using MS Suite to accomplish a variety of needs. If you type a document in Corel WordPerfect and email it off, chances are your receiver will open it in Word. Of course, these feelings are side effects of my opinion that too many people in this world use PC operating systems because of conformity and compatibility. And they are too set in their ways.
Back to the original discussion of Wikipedia. It is a reference tool that is always being updated, as opposed to paper based references, which are updated not nearly as often. I have been reading the About section of Wikipedia and it linked me to a page about what Wikipedia is and is not. I will briefly summarize what Wikipedia is not:
1. A paper encyclopedia
2. A dictionary (see google for dictionary)
3. A publisher of original thought
4. A soap box
5. A mirror or a repository of links, images, or media files
6. A blog, webspace provider, social networking, or memorial site
7. A directory
8. A manual, guidebook, or textbook
9. A crystal ball (yes this was on their site)
10. An indiscriminate collection of information
11. Cencored
Its also not a democracy, a bureaucracy, a battleground, an anarchy, or your web host.
I am in a english class...and we get docked 50 points if one of our references is Wikipedia!
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