How Wikipedia Works: And How You Can Be a Part of It Review

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(More customer reviews)This book might also be titled "Wikipedia in Context". It tells in detail what Wikipedia is and what it is not; it even has a history of encyclopedias and talks about how Wikipedia fits into this tradition. It goes into detail on the culture and motivations of the people who work on Wikipedia. It covers the mission of the project and speculates on the global impact it will have someday.
There is an especially valuable chapter on "Understanding and Evaluating an Article" with a lot of good tips. Traditional encyclopedias are written by authorities in the field, but Wikipedia is written by a wide variety of authors, some experts, some amateurs, some fanatics, and some vandals. The appeal to authority doesn't work for Wikipedia.
There are real-life case studies scattered through the book about the internal workings of Wikipedia and its interaction with the real world. The most startling and sobering is the story of Turkish scholar Taner Akçam, who was detained at Montreal's Trudeau Airport by Canadian officials who had read in Wikipedia an incorrect report that he was a terrorist.
I only have a couple of gripes about this book. The screen shots highlight the relevant parts by graying everything else, which I like, but the gray is so dark it's hard to see the screen clearly and tell where you are. The index is lengthy but it was hard to find things in it; it seems to index only the main discussion of each topic and not any other references to it.
Compared to John Broughton's Wikipedia: The Missing Manual, this book is much broader and shallower. The Missing Manual is aimed at people who want to edit (add material and articles to) Wikipedia, and goes into great detail on both the mechanics of changing Wikipedia and the policies and customs that govern these changes. The present book has much useful material on these subjects, but it has just enough to get you started editing (roughly the middle third of the book deals with this). I have found both books extremely valuable, but they are aimed at different audiences and don't compete directly with each other. If you have a casual interest in Wikipedia, or are just getting started as an editor, "How Wikipedia Works" is the book for you. Beginning editors can also benefit from "Wikipedia: The Missing Manual" but may find the level of detail overwhelming; it is better for experienced editors.


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