The vast majority of you reading this will, I’m sure, at some point have used Wikipedia as a source of information. Fine. That is, after all, what it is there for. But when newspapers, blogs, and Web sites start using it as a primary, and possibly only, source of information then we may have a problem on our hands.

I use Wikipedia on an almost-daily basis to find out more information on a product, company, or person I am writing about. It’s an invaluable source of knowledge that has helped many people learn things they didn’t previously know. However, if using Wikipedia for source material for an article, I tend to stick to the basic facts, facts that cannot really be manipulated, such as the age of a person or the founders of a company, etc.

What I haven’t yet done is use Wikipedia as the primary source of information for a written article. That is just asking for trouble and the story of how an Irish student hoaxed newspapers, blogs, and Web sites around the world by editing a Wikipedia article has done nothing to change my views on the matter.

According to the Irish Times, Shane Fitzgerald, a sociology and economics student at University College Dublin, decided to conduct an experiment into globalization and the use of online resources. When the French composer Maurice Jarre died at the end of March, it gave Fitzgerald the perfect chance to strike.

Fitzgerald edited Jarre’s Wikipedia entry to include a quote (republished below). The quote was entirely fictional, written by Fitzgerald in an attempt to have it repeated as fact by reporters announcing the death. Moderators removed the (unsourced) quote within minutes, and then again when Fitzgerald put it back. In the end, the quote was left untouched for around 24 hours.

One could say my life itself has been one long soundtrack. Music was my life, music brought me to life, and music is how I will be remembered long after I leave this life. When I die there will be a final waltz playing in my head, that only I can hear.

During this time, reporters and bloggers visited the entry, saw the almost-too-perfect quote, and used it in their obituaries and tributes to Jarre. Amongst those taken in by the hoax were The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Mail, the BBC, and several Indian and Australian newspapers. Most have now removed the quote but many blogs and Web sites are still repeating it as fact.

While slightly cruel on Maurice Jarre and his family, this experiment shows how reliant many of us are on Wikipedia. It’s often the first place we turn to for information and we tend to believe a good proportion of what is printed on the site without really checking the facts.

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Entry was posted on Thursday, May 7th, 2009 at 4:15 pm under Amusing, Internet, Opinion.

Read more entries by Dave Parrack.
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