Wiki-Wiki-What?

I am definitely guilty of turning to Wikipedia whenever I come across a subject that I'd like to know more about. Where else can you go to find out the basics about everything from adult comics (naughty comic books for adults) to an article on Children's Day around the world? (If you were curious as to why I mentioned those two seemingly random topics, they just happened to be the first two that came up when I clicked Random Article.) At the very least, a few times a week I will hop onto Wikipedia any number of reasons: when someone mentions something in conversation that I know nothing about, when watching tv or a movie, or even when I'm doing some reading for class. Of course, I would never think about using Wikipedia as a serious source for an academic paper or project, strictly because it exists as a database of information that can be edited by anyone. I sure don't trust Average Joe to give me the purest, most accurate information on anything that matters, but when it comes down to it I have some faith that the people who spend time adding information to Wiki articles are doing so because they are actually interested and knowledgeable on the subjects they take on.

I was (naturally) a bit skeptical of Wales' claim about "collaborative campus parties devoted to making thousands of quality improvements to young articles in one night". I mean, come on. Like college students don't have anything better to do than to sit around editing Wikipedia articles on a Saturday night? Get real. For me, one of the upsides to using Wikipedia is that I don't have to supply any information in order to make use of what others have contributed. I know, I know, I'm terribly lazy, but aren't so many of us? What would we have to do if there were no high-speed internet and Wikipedia to turn to when we have a brain fart? Well, we'd have to physically go to the library and seek out one of those thick, outdated encyclopedias in order to get the info we wanted. (What's a library, you ask? It's this wonderful place filled with books...) There's just something a bit too idealistic about Wales' description of how great Wikipedia is, but I hardly think that it is eroding our intellect. I prefer to think of it as enhancing.