...open source software project, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales doesn't like it when he sees someone describe it that way. "I think I've lost this battle against the term," Wales said.
There are other big differences between Wikipedia and open source software.
Almost anyone can create a Wikipedia article that's made public, even though on Monday the service implemented a new rule requiring article writers to register with the site. Registering takes just a few seconds, only requiring a username and password.
In fact, many posters do say who they are. But a few do not. Unregistered users can still edit any existing entry. That was the case with the anonymous poster who created the bogus Seigenthaler entry and Curry's embarrassing foray into editing. He was discovered when the edits were traced to an IP address for his computer.
If edits are incorrect, they won't get changed until someone else makes the changes. So in effect, there is no final version of a Wikipedia entry. They're more like living documents, always subject to change. Does that mean Wikipedia is always wrong? Not at all. But it does mean readers should be cautious.
Wales himself can make things confusing. As he tries to separate Wikipedia from the term open source, he's quick to say Wikipedia — in addition to the volunteer force — shares several attributes of open source software projects — the ability to copy, modify and redistribute. Also, like many open source software projects, people are free to create derivative works from Wikipedia.
"I would say we are absolutely, definitely, open source, by what people mean [when they use the term]," said Wales. "But I don't use that term. Instead, I would say that we are part of the free culture movement" that also includes Creative Commons, the non-profit organisation that has created a licensing framework that allows for broad non-commercial use of copyrighted material.
But accountability is still missing and that's a big difference from what goes on with software. The open source software community itself, which is generally supportive of Wikipedia, is not so quick to agree that the terminology should apply to Wales' project.
"With software, you get the benefit of there being some objective measure of a change," said Brian Behlendorf, co-founder of the Apache Software Project. "It's not a question of aesthetics. Does this fix the bug people have noticed? Does it speed up performance?"
Other open source experts agree that Wikipedia's lack of centralised control sets it apart from the software model.
"With open source software, there tends to be an organisation or person who's a leader of it and who's responsible for things going into the main line," said Dave Rosenberg, a principal analyst at the Open Source Development Lab, which promotes the adoption of Linux in the enterprise. "For instance, if you write a patch, Linus (Torvalds) approves it before it goes into Linux. It's the same with Apache."
Wales acknowledges the difference. "Over time, as code gets to a certain level of maturity it moves to a stable branch," he said. "And we're not at the point where we're ready to have a stable branch."
Still, Asay thinks anonymity is an inherent Wikipedia weakness. "You can't do that in open source," he said. "You have to be a known entity to contribute code. You should have to be a known entity to contribute to Wikipedia."







Talkback
Nobody was more surprised that the New York Times' fact checkers were using Wikipedia than the regular Wikipedia contributors, as the Times is one of the sources regularly referenced in articles. I don't know how many ways Wikipedia can state that it is not authoritative and that researchers should not use it as a single confirming source (though any researcher who does that with any source doesn't deserve the name). There are disclaimers on every page, giant text on the front page stating "Anyone can edit" and an extensive account of identified limitations of the wiki written by Wikipedians themselves for anyone who wants to look. The people who beat up Wikipedia because it doesn't fit their own mistaken preconceptions are just getting tiresome at this point. Is this really the first time that they realized that everything on the web is not 100% correct?
Addressing the article, the way one becomes a "known entity" on Wikipedia is by creating an account and regularly editing, so I'm not sure how one becomes "known" while not previously being "unknown". It should also be noted that most editors have regular topics that they edit, so the subcommunities are actually much smaller than implied in the article. Someone who regular edits articles on the politics of South Pacific islands or Latvian pop music, for example, will quickly come to know, and be known by, all the other regular contributors in that subject. Familiarity and trust do play a large role in Wikipedia, even with the ability of anonymous editors to contribute.