Launched as a network for scientists and specialists, Wikipedia is today the most popular knowledge portal in the world - knowledge to which anyone and everyone can contribute. Wikipedia users rely on swarm intelligence. According to their theory, a large number of individuals together form a superorganism that manages to produce intelligent behaviors through simple rules of conduct. Does Wikipedia live up to this claim?
Even on the tenth anniversary, the quality of Wikipedia's knowledge is disputed. According to the theory of swarm intelligence, an unlimited number of users should actually be able to fix all errors that arise. However, companies or personalities in particular sometimes struggle with content that they do not like or are even untrue. Wikipedia's mechanisms can be cumbersome, so correcting content can be a real gauntlet. Critics also accuse Wikipedia of becoming more and more of an elite circle of authors, with fewer and fewer new authors joining.
The language versions are also not coordinated with each other. Just the two small sections about swarm intelligence and Criticism of Wikipedia provide two good examples. Both provide plausible and useful content, but differ in terms of quality and principles. Links to the English versions can be found at the end of the text.
Criticism of Wikipedia has grown along with its size. In particular, there is criticism that Wikipedia, due to its open nature, is too unreliable and not trustworthy enough for a lexicon. It is also complained that Wikipedia produces distorted views that are due to its own development process, and that its objective as a “project to create an encyclopedia” is undermined by the group dynamics that occur within the user structure.
So is the “superorganism” Wikipedia choking on its own success? Or has knowledge on the Internet simply reached a critical level of saturation? Wikipedia is celebrating its tenth anniversary these days. A few contributions from international media on this occasion:
- Wiki Birthday to You! (The Economist, 14.1.2011)
- The knowledge of this world for everyone (NZZ, 14.1.2011)
- Wikipedia Mark's Ten Years of Edit-It-Yourself (New York Times, 12.1.2011)
- Wikipedia on Wikipedia criticism (en.wikipedia.org)
- The more controversial the better (Die Zeit, 10.7.2010)
Comparing the language versions using two examples
Wikipedia on “swarm intelligence” (German)
Wikipedia about “Swarm Intelligence” (english)
Wikipedia on “Criticism of Wikipedia” (German)
Wikipedia on “Criticism of Wikipedia” (english)