College vs. Wikipedia: Who Wins?

Submit your most factual article to your professor.

Then, submit the same factual article to Wikipedia.

Surprisingly, in a recent study at the University of Washington Bothell, it was discovered that Wikipedians grade reports tougher than the professor.

As part of Professor Martha Groom’s course, 34 students were required to submit their final paper to Wikipedia. Since the papers themselves were well-researched to suit the encyclopedia, or so the students thought, the professor said that these were the best papers she had ever reviewed. However, Wikipedia outright rejected one of the final papers, and four of them were later rejected by the members of the community.

Another downside to the course, but equally important in our world of web 2.0 and online interaction is that many of the Wikipedians would be rude instead of actively engage in an intelligent discussion. Still, however, she’s not giving up. In an interview with the Chronicle of Higher Education, she said:

Is there crap on Wikipedia? Sure there is. So let’s be part of making it better.

What are your thoughts on the accuracy of Wikipedia? If you’ve ever contributed, have you ever found any resentment from its community?