Kid Finds Error in Encyclopedia
I’m not exactly sure why this is breaking news, but the BBC is circulating a story of a twelve-year-old who found several errors in the Encyclopedia Britannica. Maybe it’s just because I’ve been reading too many articles about encyclopedias lately or I know a smidge about the publishing industry and how encyclopedias are written, but I certainly don’t expect perfection from them.
I wonder what he’d think of Wikipedia and its accuracy. He wouldn’t necessarily have to write to the editors. He could just fix the errors himself.
Maybe Wikipedia is moving in the wrong direction by looking for reputable critics and allies. Maybe it just needs the endorsement of a really intelligent young adult. If one can chip Britannica’s reputation, maybe one can gild Wikipedia.
noticed on LIS News
January 27th, 2005 at 11:53 am
I saw that story too… When I was a kid a friend and I wrote to World Book and corrected an error in their encyclopedia. It was such a dumb error, too… we got a thank-you note from the editors, but no newspaper article!
I think we’d have had a field day with wikipedia – and better yet, our (Montessori) teachers would probably have encouraged us to make regular contributions. Hmm, wikipedia in the schools…