Thursday, December 1, 2011

Wikipedia — Donate!

Wikipedia is, in a way, the most important site I know. For my specific line of research I of course lean heavily on research papers and books. For most anything else, including fields close to mine, Wikipedia is usually my first stop1 for anything I want to know more about. It is of course unreliable and superficial — and traditional encyclopedias are even more so — but it is a great "map of the land" and launch pad for more reliable, detailed information elsewhere.

There is possibly no other single resource on earth that is as influential and as important, whether your interest is in the advancement of natural science or the definite lineup of characters in One Piece. Wikipedia is run by a non-profit organization and is currently running a donation drive. You could do worse than go over there and donate a few yen, euro, dollars or crowns. After all, you know that you're using Wikipedia far beyond what you pay anyway, right?

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#1 …and my second, as I click an interesting-sounding link; then my third as I follow another one; then fourth… And suddenly I realize I've spent the last six hours on the site and now learning all about medieval time keeping mechanisms or something. The site is not so much saving me time as much as redirecting it.

1 comment:

  1. Yes, it's the index of the world. To put it in a way.

    Just a few hours ago I went to the cinema and met a man who was making conversations with everyone. It made me wonder because nowadays no one begins to tell experiences and advices. He was a very intelligent yet lonely man I guess.

    He just gave us advice and told us about different fields (economics, travel, physics, phsycology, etc)

    There isn't a way a single person could contain the whole info there's in wikipedia.

    I should donate a bit too, it's been very helpful for about everything I've been doing at school. Sadly, being under 18 (you've got young readers too!) doesn't help me a bit about it. I'd have to give some explanations. 1 year and something will go to wikipedia.

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