Thursday, January 24, 2013

The First Presidential Library to Hire a “Wikipedian in Residence”

Bouncy Wiki logo By Wikimedia Foundation
Bouncy Wiki logo By Wikimedia Foundation
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library at the University of Michigan is the first  presidential library in the United States to employ a “Wikipedian in residence” on its staff. What a change from recent years when Wikipedia was often decried as an unreliable and non-authoritative information source. Of course, it can still be unreliable and non-authoritative, but with an increased level of community oversight, it's rapidly becoming an indispensable research tool. I realized a few years ago that Wikipedia was at a turning point when I read a New York Times article that reported that courts had cited Wikipedia in making cases. With time and even better oversight, Wikipedia can only get better.

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