(The following is excerpted and condensed from an op-ed in the Washington Post earlier this year.)
"In the past year, Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that "anyone can edit," has been cited four times as often as the Encyclopedia Britannica in judicial opinions, and the number is rapidly growing. In just two years, YouTube has become a household word and one of the world's most successful Web sites. Such astounding growth and success demonstrate society's unstoppable movement toward shared production of information, as diverse groups of people in multiple fields pool their knowledge and draw from each other's resources." (College students are generally discouraged from using Wikipedia as an authoritative source in research papers.)
"Wikipedia is merely one of many experiments in aggregating knowledge and creativity, that have been made possible by new technology. The track record of the new collaborations suggests that they have immense potential. In just a few years, Wikipedia has become the most influential encyclopedia in the world, consulted by judges as well as those who cannot afford to buy books. If the past is prologue, we're seeing the tip of a very large iceberg."
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