Wikipedia: Encyclopedia, Newspaper, or Cult?

All of the above, and an astonishing success

By Caroline Miller, Newser Staff

Posted Jul 1, 2007 10:51 AM CDT

(Newser) – Novelist Jonathan Dee plumbs the phenomenon that is Wikipedia: First it was a populist encyclopedia, increasingly it's populist journalism, and all along it's been a religious cult, populated by cybermonks working in isolation, often putting in long hours in their bedrooms on school nights. The amazing twist, he notes, is how well it works, getting most things right—eventually.

As Wikipedia has morphed from reference library to news source, its entries have become constantly updated and rewritten accounts of breaking news, aggregating what others have reported. And Wikipedians who've made it into the inner circle struggle to filter out not only mistakes and vandalism, but bias. Which, Dee notes, makes it almost old-fashioned.

Internet entrepreneur Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, attends the iBreakfast forum on Tuesday, May 8, 2007 in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) (Associated Press)

Jimmy Wales, co-founder of online collaborative encyclopedia... (Getty Images)

Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, answers a question during an interview with the Associated Press Friday, June 29, 2007, in St. Petersburg, Fla. Wrestler Chris Benoit's page on Wikipedia was updated... (Associated Press)

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Gingrich Aide Defends Edits in Wikipedia

Joe DeSantis says he stopped editing site months ago

SOPA Protest Hails Web's 'Coming of Age'

Protesting websites' message clicked with users

Wikipedia Editors Blast Blackout

They prefer neutrality over advocacy

Websites Go Dark to Protest SOPA

Thousands of sites join strike

Wikipedia to Go Dark in SOPA Protest

Make sure you don't need to look anything up Wednesday

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