Wikipedia as Participatory Journalism: Reliable Sources? Metrics for evaluating collaborative media as a news resource

TLDR

Wikipedia is a collaboratively edited, internet‑based encyclopedia that, despite its open editing model, has become a highly regarded reference and the largest example of participatory journalism, fostering many‑to‑many communication toward a neutral point of view. This study examines Wikipedia’s growth and analyzes the crucial technologies and community policies that have enabled the project to prosper. The authors analyze news‑media‑cited Wikipedia articles, develop metrics grounded in established encyclopedia taxonomies, and examine trends in Wikipedia’s use as a source.

Abstract

Wikipedia is an Internet-based, user contributed encyclopedia that is collaboratively edited, and utilizes the wiki concept – the idea that any user on the Internet can change any page within the Web site, even anonymously. Paradoxically, this seemingly chaotic process has created a highly regarded reference on the Internet. Wikipedia has emerged as the largest example of participatory journalism to date – facilitating many-to-many communication among users editing articles, all working towards maintaining a neutral point of view — Wikipedia’s mantra. This study examines the growth of Wikipedia and analyzes the crucial technologies and community policies that have enabled the project to prosper. It also analyzes Wikipedia’s articles that have been cited in the news media, and establishes a set of metrics based on established encyclopedia taxonomies and analyzes the trends in Wikipedia being used as a source.