View Media Giraffe Project profile of Jimmy Wales
UPDATE: The Committee of Concerned Journalists has posted a comprehensive review of the Seigenthaler-WikiPedia affair.
It was the perfect situation to spotlight attention on the strength -- and perhaps weakness -- of WikiPedia . . . a free online encyclopedia with entries written by thousands of volunteers worldwide . . . and any user can change a page at will. John Seigenthaler, a former editorial-page editor of the mainstream print USA Today daily (and former editor/publisher of the Nashville Tennessean), riled by a biographical posting connecting Seigenthaler with a wildly improbable -- and untrue -- allegation. Four months, Seigenthal wrote, the offending information remained only until it was finally removed. And in the end, the person who posted the untruth went public, and apologized, and Seigenthaler said he would not sue anyone, but wanted to point out the issue of whether WikiPedia can ultimately be trusted as a reference resource.
On Monday, Dec. 12, 2005 -- the day after the Seigenthaler story came to an end with the "confession" of the errant poster -- Media Giraffe Project editor Bill Densmore interviewed WikiPedia founder Jimmy Wales at the non-profit website's small St. Petersburg, Fla., office. Here are MP3 downloadable excerpts:
Download wiki_siegenthaler_responsibility.mp3 (7:26 minutes)
(READ JEMIMA KISS'S SUMMARY OF WALES AUDIO)
(READ DOUG FISHER'S SUMMARY OF WALES AUDIO)
Download wiki_journalism_hybrid_bbc.mp3 (7:27 minutes)
Download wiki_managing_accountability_spam.mp3 (9:05 minutes)
Download wiki_good_vs_bad_cost.mp3 (3:44 minutes)
Download wiki_what_is_wikipedia.mp3 (2:20 minutes
Download wikinews_volunteer_AP.mp3 (2:15 minutes)
Download wiki_costs_sustainability.mp3 (4:55 minutes)
Download wiki_google_craig_talks.mp3 (4:46 minutes)
Download wiki_motivation_digital_divide.mp3 (4:28 minutes)
Download wiki_political_impact.mp3 (2:30 minutes)
Download wiki_surprise_no_controls_factoring.mp3 (2:32 minutes)
Download wiki-neutrality_social_concept.mp3 (3:14 minutes)
Download wiki_press_coverage.mp3 (1:46 minutes)
Free use of MP3 audio is granted with attribution to The Media Giraffe Project at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
UPDATES:
Commentaries and stories about WikiPedia's handling of the John Seigenthaler bio matter:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1599116,00.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/18/wikipedia_quality_problem/
http://www.wikipediaclassaction.org/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/12/12/wikipedia_no_responsibility/
British journal Nature finds EB and WikiPedia about even
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/online-encyclopedias-put-to-the-test/2005/12/14/1134500913345.html
Review WikiPedia's selection of "press clippings"