"Know it All" Q&A's

1.       From the way I see it, there is only one main point and a few minor points in Stacy Schiff’s “Know it All.” The main point is the article is how Jimmy Wales, Larry Sander and their partners saw the problems with Encyclopedia Britannica, went through trial of errors to create a website that is more effective and has more articles than Britannica. Wales wanted to create a website that has “free knowledge for everyone.” Sanger first created the website, Nupedia, which did not work out well. Sanger saw the flaws in Nupedia and decided to create another website that has “a simple software tool that allows for collaborative writing and editing.” This entire process started Wikipedia in 2001. Throughout the next several months, the website encountered many problems, but the administrators were able to fix the problems while maintaining the popularity and credibility of the website. The article gives many stories about the problems the administrators encountered.

2.       “At the beginning, there were no formal rules, though Sanger eventually posted a set of guidelines on the site. The first was “Ignore all the rules.” Two of the others have become central tenets: articles must reflect a neutral point of view, and their content must be both verifiable and previously published. Among other things, the prohibition against original research heads off a great deal of material about people’s pets.” (Schiff 4). This policy has prevented many editors and writers from posting false information. Being required to cite the source allows the article to have good credibility and forces writers to use only credible sources.

3.       Wikipedia’s design seems to be a more simple design. The home page allows you to see more information without getting confused while Britannica is a more complex page with fewer information. Many people like to go on these website to just search a topic. Britannica has tabs of different topic and I’m pretty sure the viewers just go the search function to find an article instead of using the tabs. Wikipedia doesn’t use tabs. It gives only the functions (search, edit, etc) its viewers will use all the time.