Wikipedia – "order out of chaos"

http://en.wikipedia.org/
Is it a book? Is it a website? Is it an encyclopedia? Is it a virtual college? group of ordinary people masquerading as experts? NO! It’s Wikipedia, an Internet phenomenon; living proof that a group of monkeys sitting at typewriters can produce the works of Shakespeare. Since its emergence in 2001, Wikipedia has been loved and loathed in equal measure, but is increasingly winning respect. Entries in this free online reference service are created by its users and they can be continuously improved through further editing by other users. There are some basic controls in place to prevent abuse and resolve disputes, and these were tightened up after problems with some political entries. Recently Nature compared the accuracy of Wikipedia articles on science with Encyclopedia Brittanica articles and found them pretty evenly matched. Brittanica are disputing this – clearly fearing Wikipedia’s growing popularity.