Wikipedia

I'm glad that Wikipedia was included in this assignment. I've seen lots of patrons using this site on the Reference computers - probably because it comes up near the top of the list in many Yahoo and Google searches. As reference librarians, we advise them that it is not an authoritative, verified source like a regular encyclopedia. However, this open and collaborative site seems really useful because users can add lots of interesting extra information and links that regular encyclopedias don't include.

I read several formatting instructions on the editing page. They seemed pretty complicated, so I went to the "Sandbox", where you can practice editing for fun and that worked.

I was very curious about the Wikipedia "Reference Desk." I wonder if some professional reference people helped Wikipedia write its guidelines:
Be as specific as possible.
Do not submit an entire homework question.
Do not ask for medical or legal advice.
Be patient because the responders are volunteers.

I went into the Science section and found topic #6 on February 1st: "the top 10 engineering projects with the most fatalities." Five people responded. Sometimes their answers included links to Wikipedia articles, so I clicked on the link to Magnetogorsk (a huge steel factory built in the 1930s in the USSR). That article had a bibliography and external links, including a research paper by a student at my college. That was fun!