978 – Book and Sword

978

Wikipedia Culture, Journalistic Culture, and Academic Culture

A warning from Wikipedia saying "This argument relies excessively on references to primary sources. Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources." — The Wikipedia {{primary sources}} cleanup template, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Template_index/Cleanup#Verifiability_and_sources Cleanup templates are for articles which should be improved. A good feature of Wikipedia is that these templates provide hints on how to improve the article instead of just complaining.

Have you ever seen a Wikipedia page warn you that it cites too many primary sources? Or wondered why the most active Wikipedia editors tend to be understimulated older or younger people but rarely practitioners, researchers, or journalists?¹ It turns out these two factors are connected, because Wikipedia has a unique culture which is hard for academics or journalists to engage with.