How (Much) to Trust Wikipedia

Luca de Alfaro [Associate Professor of Computer Engineering, UC Santa Cruz]
Abstract:

The Wikipedia is a collaborative encyclopedia: anyone can contribute to its articles simply by clicking on an "edit'' button. The open nature of the Wikipedia has been key to its success, but has a flip side: if anyone can edit, how can readers know whether to trust its content?

To help answer this question, we have developed a reputation system for Wikipedia authors, and a trust system for Wikipedia text. Authors gain reputation when their contributions are long-lived, and they lose reputation when their contributions are undone in short order. Each word in the Wikipedia is assigned a value of trust that depends on the reputation of its author, as well as on the reputation of the authors that subsequently revised the text where the word appears. To validate our algorithms, we show that reputation and trust have good predictive value: higher-reputation authors are more likely to give lasting contributions, and higher-trust text is less likely to be edited.

The trust can be visualized via an intuitive coloring of the text background. The coloring provides an effective way of spotting attempts to tamper with Wikipedia information. A trust-colored version of the entire English Wikipedia can be browsed at http://trust.cse.ucsc.edu/

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• CITRIS
• UCBerkeley
• Research
• UCSC
• Trust
• Wikipedia
• Science

[mollymange]

Wikipedia isn't a very in-depth or reliable source for information.

[tremapar]

I agree... hahaha

[wikipedosuk]

this is beneath the surface pure shit world's place for pedophiles!fuk dont CREATE FUCKIN WIKIPEDIA SHIT DONT SPONSOR IT, BEST STUFF AND ALL ITS LINKS BOOKMARK 100% TRUTH WIKIPEDIA-WATCH ORG!RULES!

[Lirsenisawesome]

@johncenasux1 That's a good reason to away from Wikipedia.

[FlyinSpaghettiMnstr7]

@uselesswikipeedos let me guess, u are a christian conservative

[pureefficient]

does it matter the dude who made wiki is rich

[wikipedosuk]

NEVER TRUST SPONSOR MISLEADIN WIKIPEDIA AKA WIKIPEDOIA,REAL NAME, JUST search FOR WIKIPEDIA WORLD'S NR1 PLACE FOR PEDOPHILES THUS WE HAV WIKIPEDOS!EG YESTErday THEY WROTE SOme ESPN chicago 1000am ANALYST is maried to pamela lee. They never even met.Wow.dont forget jfk killing.such rumors r beyond dangerous.bookmark read prin all true giv2others wikipedia-watch org!

[wikipedosuk]

NEVER!YESTErday THEY WROTE SOme ESPN chicago 1000am ANALYST is maried to pamela lee. Wow.dont forget jfk killing.such rumors r beyond dangerous.bookmark read prin all true giv2others wikipedia-watch org!

[wikipedosuk]

Fuk wikipedia AKA WIKIPEDOIA BOOKMArk TELL READ ALL WIKIPEDIA-WATCH ORG SCUM LIKE ALISON j.delanoy ANTANDRUS PATHOSCHILD REALY LIKE IT aka wikipedos lowilifes also petersydonds,bsadowski1 all suk child kuk!

[BobTheWikipedian]

Quite an interesting presentation, wish I had time to watch all of it right now! I'd be curious to see how my trust factor compares against those of my Wikipedian colleagues!