Source Notes

Source Notes is a column by Stephen Harrison for Slate and Future Tense that explores internet knowledge and the search for a fact-based world.

2019

Why Wikipedia’s Medical Content is Superior

According to Wikipedia administrator and attorney BD2412, a lawyer using Wikipedia to brush up on the law itself would probably be committing malpractice. For example, if a defense attorney skimmed the Wikipedia page for assault but did not review the precise elements of that crime or tort in their jurisdiction, it would be so irresponsible (and lazy) as to likely rise to the level of professional misconduct. As an attorney myself, I’d be tempted to hurl a casebook at our hypothetical lousy lawyer and tell him to stop giving the rest of us a bad name.

The same rationale, it seems, would apply to the medical profession. Like most encyclopedias, Wikipedia typically functions as a launch pad that provides a general overview of a topic and points to further or original sources. But at least one new study suggests that Wikipedia is superior to other medical sources in at least one key respect: short-term knowledge acquisition…

Amazon’s Alexa Keeps Quoting Jeff Bezos to Me

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