Week 9, Wikipedia

I've dipped into Wikipedia a few times over the years, and think that as a starting point for research into a subject it can be very useful. The site itself admits that it can be open to 'vandalism', and anyone who takes a Wikipedia article as the gospel truth is taking a leap of faith. Having said that, just because it can be manipulated by anyone - which is after all its greatest strength - it doesn't follow that it will be inaccurate. The fact that it does have references to external sources helps to bolster the accuracy, or widen the area of related information, which is useful to a researcher. The discussion feature is interesting, but seems to fall a long way short of the to-and-fro content of most subject related blogs, or sites such as facebook, but as a secondary feature of Wikipedia that isn't a major criticism.