On February 19, 2008, several online news sites ran an article by the Associated Press titled Oxford to Study Faith in God (I’ll link to this one, if you’d like to read the short article in full). The first paragraph reads:

University of Oxford researchers will spend nearly $4 million to study why mankind embraces God. The grant to the Ian Ramsey Center for Science and Religion will bring anthropologists, theologians, philosophers and other academics together for three years to study whether belief in a divine being is a basic part of mankind’s makeup. - AP

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The quality of content on Wikipedia.org may seem like an obvious and easy target for Skeptical Monkey. Wikipedia does not have guidelines for its contributors, inviting anyone with a computer and Internet connection to submit their own content to the site (regardless of its accuracy).

“Perfection is not required.”

Sensing weaknesses in Wikipedia’s models, several other online encyclopedia-style wiki’s have formed, attempting to succeed where they feel Wikipedia has failed. Veropedia and Citizendium are two examples that focus on leveraging expert knowledge in their pages. But do a few subject matter experts really produce better quality content than the public?

Myth: A small number of knowledgeable contributors produce better Wikipedia content than a large group of ordinary contributors.

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