Evaluating Wikipedia

Wikipedia is one of the most popular reference sites on the Internet today and is a very useful source to find information and get up to speed on a range of topics. It's a place to start to get a feel for some ideas. However, it is not to be considered a scholarly, academic resource. I think this is the case because it is a site that allows the average joe/joanne to add information that he/she claims to know about a certain topic.

In this blogging task, we have been asked to find two wikipedia articles about unrelated topics that we know something about. I automatically took a shining to this task because it meant that I got to read and research something of my own choosing - unlike that devil article of Walter Benjamin's that gave me a brain hemorrhage!

The first topic I chose to research is my all time favourite band - the one, the only, Led Zeppelin.
Based on what I already know, this article has a lot of relevent information and facts on this timeless band and also included many things that I did not know. I found it very interesting to read as it started with the early days of the "Yardbirds", lead guitarist Jimmy Page's band prior to Led Zep, and finished with a section about their recent 2007 reunion (which, sadly I could not see.)
I think this article is quite fair and balanced, as it pretty much goes into detail of the different era's of Zeppelin throughout the years in which they were recording and releasing songs. However, there was a section that could be considered biased to some readers. "The Biggest Band In The World" is one of the sub headings, and although it is mine and obviously the author of this article's personal opinion, it may not be what everybody may think of this band. I don't think that there is much that I would change about this article - it has almost everything that someone would need or want to know about these eternal rock gods.



The second topic I chose to research on Wikipedia was the amazing Byron Bay music festival, Splendour In The Grass which is held at Belongil Fields each year. My friends and I have been on a natural high ever since the first line-up announcement was made last week and we are all extremely excited to be going. However, will be more excited once we get those golden tickets into our hot little hands!
This article on Splendour In The Grass was quite short and easy to read. It consisted of going into detail about ticket scalping, media coverage, previous line-ups and other facts about this two day festival. I did, however, find a mistake in the information that was presented in this article. The introduction states that "Splendour In The Grass is an annual music festival held in July." This is false, as it has been held in the first weekend of August for the past few years. Apart from this, the article was straight to the point and gave readers a general idea of the sort of music that is played at this festival. I can't wait for August. HORAY!