The Most Powerful Tool on the Web

Almost anybody that uses a computer regularly knows about Wikipedia. For those of you that don't, read on. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia. It is free and, along with English, is written in a multitude of languages, including German, Spanish, and French. The entries in Wikipedia are written collaboratively by volunteers, allowing virtually anyone with an internet connection and keyboard to add and/or edit entries.

Although it may sound like a haven for internet trolls, it really isn't that easy for trolls to ruin entries. Usually, within seconds of the vandalism, the entry is edited and fixed by any one of the millions of legitimate users. In many cases, administrators will restrict the offender's account, removing their ability to edit or add entries, and, in more severe cases, the offender's IP address may be banned. Also, articles may get locked, thus preventing anyone from further editing the article. Normally, this occurs with very controversial topics (abortion is a good example).

In the end, Wikipedia isn't the best source for a research paper, but it's a great way to find information quickly on over a million topics. (On a side note, Wikipedia is a good tool to use for finding sources to use in a research paper. For example, search your topic and then view the links at the bottom of page (they're in the See Also section) and the sources for the respective page.)

In short, Wikipedia is an online democracy of information. That is what I consider the most powerful tool on the web.


Wikipedia is a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. In addition to Wikipedia, they have founded many other notable projects. For a complete list of all the Wikimedia Foundation's projects, check out this page. Other popular projects include Wiktionary, an online free dictionary, and Wikiquote, a library of quotes, both of which are also written collaboratively by volunteers.

Information is powerful. Use it wisely.


"Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice."
-Anton Chekhov

[Photos: dcjohn, lui lui]