Wikipedia to writers: Prove your expertise

AP) -- Following revelations that a high-ranking member of Wikipedia's bureaucracy used his cloak of anonymity to lie about being a professor of religion, the free Internet encyclopedia plans to ask contributors who claim such credentials to identify themselves.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said in interviews by phone and instant message Wednesday from Japan that contributors still would be able to remain anonymous. But he said they should only be allowed to cite some professional expertise in a subject if those credentials have been verified.

"We always prefer to give a positive incentive rather than absolute prohibition, so that people can contribute without a lot of hassle," Wales wrote.

Wales suggested such a plan two years ago, but the idea suddenly gained currency after the recent discovery that a prolific Wikipedia contributor who wrote under the pen name "Essjay" and claimed to be a professor of theology turned out to be a 24-year-old college dropout, Ryan Jordan.

Jordan's fraud came to light last week when The New Yorker published an editor's note stating that a 2006 Wikipedia profile in the magazine had erroneously described Essjay's purported academic resume. The New Yorker said a Wikipedia higher-up had vouched for Essjay to the author of the piece, Stacy Schiff, but that neither knew Essjay's real identity.

In addition to contributing thousands of articles to the sprawling Web encyclopedia, Jordan had recently been promoted to arbitrator, a position for trusted members of the community. Arbitrators can overrule an edit made by another volunteer or block people who abuse the site.

Jordan also was hired in January by Wikia Inc., a for-profit venture run by Wales. He has since been dismissed.

Jordan has not returned an e-mail seeking comment from The Associated Press. But in a note on his Wikipedia "user page" before it was officially "retired," he apologized for any harm he caused Wikipedia.

"It was, quite honestly, my impression that it was well known that I was not who I claimed to be, and that in the absence of any confirmation, no respectible (sic) publication would print it," he wrote.

Wikipedia is full of anonymous contributors like Essjay, whose user page also once proclaimed: "My Wikipedia motto is 'Lux et Veritas' (Light and Truth) and I believe more individuals should contribute with an intention to bring light to the community and truth to the encyclopedia."

The anonymity of the site is a frequent cause of mischief -- from juvenile vandalism of entries to the infamous case involving journalist Robert Seigenthaler, who was incorrectly described as a suspect in the Kennedy assassinations. And that has raised concerns about the credibility of the site.

But anonymity is also considered one of the main forces behind Wikipedia's astonishing growth, to nearly 1.7 million articles in English and millions more in dozens of other languages. Wales has said he is an "anti-credentialist" -- because anonymity puts a reader's attention on the substance of what people have written rather than who they are.

Wales said Wednesday that belief is unchanged. But, he said, if people want to claim expertise on Wikipedia, they ought to be prompted to prove it. If they don't want to give their real names, they shouldn't be allowed to tout credentials. Had that policy been in place, Wales said, Jordan probably would not have gotten away with claiming a Ph.D. in religion.

"It's always inappropriate to try to win an argument by flashing your credentials," Wales said, "and even more so if those credentials are inaccurate."

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Fake professor in Wikipedia storm

Fake professor in Wikipedia storm
A computer showing Wikipedia's home page
Volunteers write and edit the site's thousands of articles
Internet site Wikipedia has been hit by controversy after the disclosure that a prominent editor had assumed a false identity complete with fake PhD.

The editor, known as Essjay, had described himself as a professor of religion at a private university.

But he was in fact Ryan Jordan, 24, a college student from Kentucky who used texts such as Catholicism for Dummies. He has now retired from the site.

Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia open to all, written by volunteers worldwide.

'Trust and tolerance'

Under the name Essjay, Mr Jordan edited articles and also had the authority to arbitrate disputes between authors and remove site vandalism.

In his user profile, he said he taught both undergraduate and graduate theology, and in an interview with the New Yorker in July 2006, was described as a "tenured professor of religion".

His real identity came to light last week when the magazine added an editorial note to the piece highlighting the deception.

"At the time of publication, neither we nor Wikipedia knew Essjay's real name," the note said.

Essjay told them he hid his identity because "he feared personal retribution from those he had ruled against online", the magazine's note said.

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, writing on the site on 3 March, said that Mr Jordan was apologetic, but that Wikipedia was "based on twin pillars of trust and tolerance".

"Despite my personal forgiveness, I hope that he will accept my resignation request, because forgiveness or not, these positions are not appropriate for him now," he wrote.

And in a post the next day, Mr Jordan announced his retirement from the site.

"I hope others will refocus the energy they have spent the past few days in defending and denouncing me to make something here at Wikipedia better," he said.

Students assessed with Wikipedia

Students assessed with Wikipedia
Nicola Pratt
Dr Pratt says Wikipedia can help develop critical thinking skills
Students at a UK university are working on the Wikipedia online encyclopedia as part of their degree course.

Postgraduates at the University of East Anglia are being assessed as they edit existing Wikipedia articles and research and write their own pieces.

Wikipedia uses a collaborative form of editing and authorship for its reference material.

Politics lecturer, Nicola Pratt, says using Wikipedia can develop students' research skills.

The Wikipedia website has divided academics - with a United States university recently banning its history students from using it, because of fears that they would reproduce material without checking its accuracy.

And on Tuesday, one of Wikipedia's US editors was revealed to have faked his academic background.

Critical thinking

But Dr Nicola Pratt, lecturer in comparative politics and international relations at UEA, believes the encyclopedia can be seen as a useful study tool, rather than a bar to original and accurate work.

She says the use of Wikipedia can develop students' critical thinking, research and writing skills.

Dr Pratt, who teaches on the Middle East for students taking a Masters in international relations and development, has built her course around Wikipedia.

Students have to edit eight articles on the online encyclopedia and then write their own article for the site.

The Wikipedia-based Middle East course counts for an eighth of the students' MA assessment.

"They're assessed on their ability to improve the quality and balance of the article and they demonstrate they have done that through additional reading around the topic for that week.

"I can see why people are sceptical of Wikipedia because it hasn't gone through a peer review process.

"But with Wikipedia you have a peer review process that's going on every day - that may not involve academics but other people who have differing areas of knowledge."

Motivation

Dr Pratt also believes using Wikipedia can boost postgraduates' confidence, by making their work available to others.

"I also thought this would be a good way of motivating people to produce writing that they will have some pride in, if they know other people are going to read it, rather than just me."

Student Trina Worden, who is completing her MA on a part-time basis, says the scheme keeps study alive and active.

"You can follow the progress of your input as changes and additions are often subject to critical review by other 'Wikipedians'.

"You are also making a useful contribution to public knowledge by either improving content or accuracy, and your IT skills are improved.

"I think Wikipedia itself is a good reference point for further research. I don't believe I would cite it in my work but would rather use it to access the original source."

Evaluation

When this year's pilot scheme is completed, Dr Pratt will assess its success and hopes to be able to widen the scheme to undergraduate teaching as well.

"The project will enable me to test the benefits and identify the limitations of Wikipedia and Wiki technology as tools for improving the evaluative, research and writing skills necessary at postgraduate level," she says.

"New technology opens up new ways of assessing students and we have to explore those."

Wikipedia is a multilingual web-based free encyclopedia which is written and edited by contributors from around the world.