Regional reviews of Wikipedia articles
Wikipedia has become so well known, regional media outlets have taken to looking up articles of relevance and doing a spot-review of Wikipedia’s content. This is a pretty useful (and sometimes painfully honest) peer review. Here’s one recently from Indianapolis’s IndyStar on companies in the Midwest. (Wikipedia Midwest “spokeswoman” Kelly Martin is mentioned.)
The Bad News: many of the company entries were given “poor” marks
The Good News: Britannica and Encarta wouldn’t have an entry about “Marsh Supermarkets“
So while the site is justified to say, “Brief overview of retailer is too sketchy to be useful,” my response would be - 1) I didn’t know what Marsh was before, and I do now, so it has been useful to me; 2) the article can be improved right away and in the future. It’s a wiki.
Here is the scorecard they gave with some inconsistent complaints of “too much “and “too little” information. But some of the crits are right on. A note to future reviewers - dont’ combine accuracy and usefulness together into one index. They are different things.
Conseco
• Accuracy/usefulness: Poor
• Comment: Information on once-bankrupt insurer is outdated. Entry says insurer’s stock is delisted from the New York Stock Exchange, but that’s no longer the case.
Cummins Inc.
• Accuracy/usefulness: Poor
• Comment: Sketchy description of engine maker with list of engine types that appeals only to gearheads.
Eli Lilly and Co.
• Accuracy/usefulness: Fair
• Comment: Company’s top drug Zyprexa is left out of list of key products and gets only a mention under “other therapies.” But sales are updated with 2005 numbers and the entry is spiced with facts like “Ken Lay of Enron-scandal fame once served on the company’s board.”
Marsh Supermarkets
• Accuracy/usefulness: Poor
• Comment: Brief overview of retailer is too sketchy to be useful.
WellPoint
• Accuracy/usefulness: Poor
• Comment: Eight-sentence entry doesn’t do justice to nation’s largest private health benefits firm. Few historical references and no mention of merger battles with state regulators or settlements of lawsuits with angry doctors.
