MY LOVE FOR WIKIPEDIA: A SHORT ESSAY

  

    For all my life, I have been captivated by the world's interconnectedness. The idea that every concept is, in some way inextricably connected to another by only following a few common threads is utterly fascinating, and the seemingly impossibly deep breadth of knowledge that some people seem to possess about some topics. One of the earliest examples that comes to mind is a project I did in fifth grade on Chornobyl. I would spend hours reading about Chernobyl and the history of the event, and with each excursion into a book I would find myself diving ever deeper into the vast recesses of knowledge that these books held for me. I spent days panning through various Wikipedia articles that were just barely within my understanding enough to finish my presentation. I remember that in the end, when I went to give my presentation, it totaled to around 20 slides, and a 30-minute presentation. Even with my classmates falling asleep in the back, my passion carried me through the entire presentation, explaining energetically what I'd spent the last three weeks doing.

    While I was much too young at the time to understand most of the concepts, my passion for knowledge has stayed with me as I matured. Often, I find myself distracted by my love for learning obscure facts about the world. I find the adage 'truth is stranger than fiction' to hold true more often than not. The countless sources of high-quality, factual information available online is one of the things that has turned me towards reading primarily non-fiction online. The absolute bounty of learning that can be done completely for free is astounding. I've learned countless skills and facts from simply doing things I enjoy, which is one of the greatest things the internet has done for me, and maybe even for humanity. Professionals, passionate about their fields, are more than willing to share their knowledge with anyone willing to listen, and you can seemingly find these professionals anywhere you look. 

    From a young age, I've also looked for an outlet for all the knowledge I've gathered over my life. While many simple facts do not lend themselves well to my assignments and essays, they do help greatly in conversation. Being a very extroverted person, having captivating discussions with the people around me makes me happier than nearly anything else. This is a value that I believe was instilled in me by my father and brother, who always shunned the idea of 'small talk'. Vapid conversations about mundane events are one of my biggest pet peeves, and it's something I try to avoid as much as possible. One of my goals in life is to be able to hold a conversation with any person, to have a scope of knowledge so wide it encompasses all the things I could talk about with people in my day-to-day life. It is, obviously, impossible to know everything about everything but seeing as I enjoy the search, I'll get as close to that as I can.

    So, to return to the topic of this blog, Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an astonishingly well-written source on nearly any kind of information you could seek. It tends to get a bad rap from teachers all throughout school, leading many to undervalue its ability to get a fantastic baseline on obscure knowledge. Most of it, contrary to popular belief, is also highly accurate. Because only a small portion of users are dedicated enough to make edits in the first place, these users tend to fact-check with others. They also have a tendency to verify other articles, adding tags and asking for citations and such when needed. That is why, when you end up on the article for any obscure topic you might find yourself interested in, be it the Kosovo Student Poisoning or the mechanics of a Zamboni, you can take the information presented to you as fact. 

 To reiterate my point, I would like to say that the constant hating on Wikipedia done by teachers is not fair to such a useful tool. I think it's a crime that so many people never got into the habit of using it, and I hope that after you read this you decide to read Wikipedia just a little more.