Information Integrity

Wikipedia is one of the most influential information experiments of our time. Its basic reliance on user-generated content, as well as its popularity around the world, makes it an easy target for hoaxes and pranks. Some of these are harmless but misleading, while others attack individuals. Wikipedia has a series of quizzes and courses designed to inform people about such dangers, highlighting the worst cases that have occurred so far.The Seigenthaler incident refers to a hoax article that was up for four months linking journalist John Seigenthaler to the assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy. After discovering the article, Seigenthaler contacted Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, and asked if there was any way to discover who had published the article. Due to Wikipedia’s anonymity clauses, the unfortunate answer was “no.” Seigenthaler found little help when he went to BellSouth Internet, which had registered the poster’s IP account. As a result of the incident, new guidelines and oversight features were added on the Wikipedia site. (more…)