CHNM Article: Can History be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past

by Roy Rosenzweig

In this article, Roy Rosenzweig presents the topic of Wikipedia and the obvious issues inherent with having an open source website accessible and editable by literally anyone. He compares and contrasts Wikipedia to other well known encyclopedias, admitting that the comparison, though unfair (the well known encyclopedias have huge multimillion dollar budgets while Wikipedia just has volunteers), is surprisingly favorable towards Wikipedia. First and foremost, much light is shed on relatively obscure events or figures in history--he uses the example of the 900-word entry on Union general Romeyn B. Ayres. He also notes that although a volunteer base, the Wikipedia society works around a strict non-bias point of view, insisting each article be written neutrally. Another noteworthy benefit here is the Wikipedia community actively discusses historical debates to best present a topic without bias. The example is given over whether John Brown was "murdered" or "killed."

On the other hand, however, the amateurs who operate Wikipedia lack an understanding of literature and the ultimate ability to analytically interpret sources and arguments. Additionally, there are other obvious negative implications such as the ability for anyone with a computer and Internet-access to edit an entry.

Rosenzweig eventually begs the question of "why care" to historians? He warns that students often use it to study for terms on a test, cite it in bibliographies on term papers, and notes that Google search results often place Wikipedia entries high on its list. Therefore, searchers will go to the first obvious choice than to extensively search for better sources.

I would argue that this is perhaps a bit overstated or far-fetched, especially because the article is pretty recent (2006) and thus the ramifications in the scholarly world should be fairly apparent at this point. From personal experience, I have never had a TA or professor not warn me against using Wikipedia or any other Internet site as a source, at least without prior approval. Also, students who use it to prepare for exams will likely reflect such lack of preparation on the test itself. So, while I feel the impact of Wikipedia is certainly noteworthy, it is hardly something to fear.