Wikipedia

My experience with Wikipedia has been very limited so far. I have used it to look limited amounts of topics to get the broad general concept and understanding of the idea. I have also used Wikipedia to complete 90% of a take home quiz as an alternative to reading 30 dry pages out of a book. My use with Wikipedia has been limited in my scholarly studies due to its inherent nature of the articles to be unverified by a proper editor. With that being said, most professors do not like or they will not accept sources from Wikipedia, however I have used Wikipedia as a starting point to find references on popular topics.

Looking at Lessig and Schiff's articles, I do believe that Wikipedia can conquer expertise, however I believe with its' current set up it would take someone a great deal of time to gather the information and properly verify that information to be accurate. There are thousands of scholars and PhD article authors that are on Wikipedia. In Schiff's article, it talks about a user by the name of Essjay who holds a PhD in theology and a degree in canon law. Essjay has participated in over sixteen thousand Wikipedia entries, of those entries there has to be at least one that he can prove to be accurate through his expertise.

Relating to Bilton's article, I believe that people give up and share their time for free so easily is people are generally kind. It is when you start putting capital commodities on your time that you are no longer kind. He uses the example of helping a neighbor with a dead battery, I myself have been in the situation where I have needed a jump, so when I see someone that needs a jump I will often lend a hand, all because I have been in that situation. As for Wikipedia and other free online sharing sites, people have been in the situation where they needed a quick, and reasonably accurate source for understanding and idea, concept or topic. Once you have used the service, you feel the inherent need to contribute when you yourself have discovered something that anyone interested in the subject matter deserves to know. When it comes to filtering and sharing with others, there are a few times when I have found a news article or came upon a video, song, or other product that I though a friend might be interested in, and have posted it on their Facebook wall. But that is the furthest that I have gone with it.