Throughout elementary, middle, and high school, it feels like every teacher I’ve ever had has warned me against using Wikipedia. They have always said not to trust it, since anyone can add things to it. This has made me always tend to stay away from Wikipedia, and I have only used it here or there for quick information about something. When I have used Wikipedia, it usually hasn’t been school related, because my teachers kind of scared me into not using it! After completing the training modules, I definitely think there is a lot of good that can come out of using Wikipedia. I think that it can be useful in that it compiles information from many sources, allowing readers to get the full scope of a certain topic. There are also so many topics on Wikipedia, such that you can be pretty certain that whatever you’re looking for will be on there if it is difficult to find information on a topic. Additionally, it seems that there are certainly policies in place that try to regulate what is posted on this platform, so I think the common warning of “don’t trust anything on Wikipedia” is not totally true. However, there are surely some harmful aspects of Wikipedia. Though there are some precautions to make sure that information is reliable, there is no guarantee that this information is true. This was seen in the movie we watched in class, where someone falsely claimed that someone had a role in the JFK assassination, when this was not true whatsoever. I also think that people can get their information from non-reputable sources, and may publish false information unintentionally.
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