Wikipedia

In a NYTimes op-ed piece on whether search engines help or hurt education, Edward Tenner write that

Graduate students, in the front lines as teaching assistants, are starting to discuss joining Wikipedia … .

Wikipedia turns up more and more frequently (and closer to the front) in Google searches. I use it to get an idea of what something is about—if I don't know—and as a source of links to other sites. I have never cited a Wikipedia article in a paper because I have no way to confirm the competence of the author(s). If Wikipedia becomes a place to which graduate students, who are often but not always knowledgeable, contribute it will become increasingly reliable and useful. This will be a case of good money driving out bad rather than the other way around.