1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,880 Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 2 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:08,920 Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology? With 3 00:00:09,080 --> 00:00:17,680 Speaker 1: tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello there, everyone, 4 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:20,040 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Pollette, and 5 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:21,799 Speaker 1: I am the tech editor here at how stuff works 6 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:25,520 Speaker 1: dot Com. As usual, sitting across from me is the 7 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 1: man we all know as senior writer, Jonathan Strickland. Helloha, y'all. Helloha. 8 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:34,080 Speaker 1: Well it makes sense considering what we're gonna talk about. Yes, 9 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:36,560 Speaker 1: and we're gonna talk about it really fast. Yeah. Well, first, 10 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:42,560 Speaker 1: let's uh, let's go into a little listener mail. This 11 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:46,320 Speaker 1: listen mail comes from Matt from Boulder, Colorado, and Matt says, Hey, guys, 12 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:48,600 Speaker 1: I'm a high school science teacher and have been involved 13 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:50,840 Speaker 1: in a huge battle for the past couple of years. 14 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:53,360 Speaker 1: Throughout the year, I assigned some research projects for my 15 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 1: students nuclear energy, sources of energy, physics of musical instruments, 16 00:00:57,400 --> 00:00:59,800 Speaker 1: et cetera. And when the students go to the computer 17 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:03,320 Speaker 1: line up to find information for their projects, the first 18 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:06,520 Speaker 1: website they jumped to is Wikipedia. No matter how hard 19 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:08,280 Speaker 1: I try to drill into their heads, that is not 20 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:10,440 Speaker 1: a valid source of info. They still use it. Since 21 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:12,760 Speaker 1: you guys do lots of research, could you explain to 22 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:16,200 Speaker 1: all of your young listeners out there the dangers of Wikipedia? 23 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:21,520 Speaker 1: Thanks Matt Well. I think, um, before we get into that, 24 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:25,560 Speaker 1: I think what we should do is talk about wikis because, um, 25 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:27,920 Speaker 1: you know, Wikipedia is sort of a love hate thing 26 00:01:27,959 --> 00:01:29,880 Speaker 1: with a lot of people, and we'll get into the 27 00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:34,680 Speaker 1: reasons why. But the wiki itself is a pretty useful tool. Um. 28 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:38,960 Speaker 1: You know, it's it's essentially what it is is. Um, 29 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:41,920 Speaker 1: it's a wiki. It's a web page. Yeah, it's a 30 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:44,360 Speaker 1: web page. And um, actually I kind of think of 31 00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:47,280 Speaker 1: it as sort of a microcosm of the web, because 32 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: you're creating your own version of the Worldwide Web. Every 33 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:51,960 Speaker 1: time you create a page on a wiki, you can 34 00:01:52,000 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: link it to the other pages on the wiki, and 35 00:01:54,640 --> 00:01:57,400 Speaker 1: it could be on anything and everything. We'll tell you why. 36 00:01:57,400 --> 00:02:00,400 Speaker 1: I got a great idea. Okay, let's uh just gonna 37 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 1: take you right over here. Right, you see where I'm 38 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: leading you, right to the machine over here. I'll get 39 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:06,880 Speaker 1: into the way back. Okay, there you go. All right, 40 00:02:06,920 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 1: I'm done, I'll get in all right. I'm setting this 41 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:13,960 Speaker 1: for nine and we're gonna travel through time and space 42 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: because we're going to Hawaii. Oh man, smell that fresh air, 43 00:02:24,480 --> 00:02:28,560 Speaker 1: not like Atlanta at all, cold cold Atlanta. And now 44 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:31,080 Speaker 1: we're in Hawaii, and and it's great because you know 45 00:02:31,120 --> 00:02:33,600 Speaker 1: as soon as you step out of the time machine, 46 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:37,440 Speaker 1: they're waiting there with you know, decorative lace and the 47 00:02:37,680 --> 00:02:41,079 Speaker 1: co couldnut drinks and its breast skirts and the sea 48 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:45,520 Speaker 1: turtles and the spam and the boys. Pardon me, I 49 00:02:45,560 --> 00:02:48,640 Speaker 1: need to get a big rock and break the time machine. Yeah. 50 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:51,160 Speaker 1: I don't want to go back either, all right. But 51 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:55,040 Speaker 1: the reason why I brought you here was to point out, well, 52 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: there's one there's when you see the bus over there, 53 00:02:57,200 --> 00:02:59,600 Speaker 1: you see what the name is on that bus. It's 54 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:02,880 Speaker 1: hard to be account from here. It says wiki because 55 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:07,240 Speaker 1: I k I it means it's an expression for quick. Oh. 56 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:09,919 Speaker 1: That explains why I was going quickly right and so 57 00:03:10,120 --> 00:03:14,280 Speaker 1: in n which would be of course today, because we 58 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 1: took the way back machine word Cunningham, Uh, Cunningham Cunningham 59 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:21,960 Speaker 1: or cunning Ham if you prefer, I was pronouncing it 60 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:26,760 Speaker 1: the correct way. He um. He came up with this idea. 61 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:31,440 Speaker 1: Now he was uh. He used his software developing skills 62 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:34,680 Speaker 1: and his web developing skills to create the first wiki, 63 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:38,080 Speaker 1: which was his way of creating an environment where a 64 00:03:38,120 --> 00:03:41,240 Speaker 1: lot of people could share ideas and information in a 65 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: in a collaborative way, um, without having to worry about 66 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:48,840 Speaker 1: everyone logging into a separate thing and then one person 67 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:51,920 Speaker 1: taking all of those different pieces and then incorporating them together. 68 00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:54,120 Speaker 1: That wastes a lot of time, you know, you have 69 00:03:54,160 --> 00:03:57,480 Speaker 1: to rely on one person to take all the different 70 00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:01,840 Speaker 1: pieces and and patch something together from them. So he 71 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:06,440 Speaker 1: created the first wiki. Uh. And then not that long afterward, 72 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:11,320 Speaker 1: the first public wiki, called the Portland's Pattern Repository shows up. 73 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:17,120 Speaker 1: And uh, Now Ward's wiki is still active. Yes, so 74 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:20,839 Speaker 1: you can actually even visit it. Um It's worldwide wiki, 75 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:27,800 Speaker 1: isn't it? Um? Actually? And I didn't write that down? Well, 76 00:04:27,839 --> 00:04:30,880 Speaker 1: we keep talking, all right, I'll keep talking. So here's 77 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:34,600 Speaker 1: Ward's idea is that he thinks that if he creates 78 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:37,320 Speaker 1: this sort of a web environment where anyone can come 79 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:43,640 Speaker 1: to the web environment and edit things or upload information, um, 80 00:04:43,760 --> 00:04:47,080 Speaker 1: alter things that are already there. Maybe something is interesting 81 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:49,400 Speaker 1: but it's not really pertinent to that particular discussion, that 82 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:52,440 Speaker 1: should have its own page. They could create the page 83 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:56,000 Speaker 1: for that. They could link everything to each other. Um 84 00:04:56,040 --> 00:05:00,479 Speaker 1: and uh and it takes off. Yes, have you found it? 85 00:05:00,640 --> 00:05:05,400 Speaker 1: I'm still looking cud grief too, Yes, okay, because it's 86 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:08,960 Speaker 1: from Cunningham and Cunningham Incorporated. Ah, there that makes sense. 87 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:13,640 Speaker 1: Two dot com. So this, this idea catches on and 88 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:17,279 Speaker 1: becomes a great way for people to collaborate and build information. 89 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:21,359 Speaker 1: Um and it could be the subject could be anything. 90 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:23,640 Speaker 1: There are a lot of companies that have wikis, including 91 00:05:23,640 --> 00:05:25,720 Speaker 1: how stuff works. We have a wiki. We did We 92 00:05:25,839 --> 00:05:29,719 Speaker 1: use to to keep check to see it right, Yeah, 93 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:31,800 Speaker 1: you can't, but we can. That's that's the other thing 94 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:34,760 Speaker 1: is that wikies don't are not necessarily public. You might 95 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:36,719 Speaker 1: have to sign in in order to have access to 96 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:39,600 Speaker 1: a wiki. They're a great tool for people to use 97 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:43,240 Speaker 1: on their intranet where uh they could share information with 98 00:05:43,279 --> 00:05:46,359 Speaker 1: one another and update that the item. Uh. You know, 99 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:50,720 Speaker 1: I have give access to every day employees to let 100 00:05:50,720 --> 00:05:53,200 Speaker 1: them update the database rather than having to you know, 101 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:54,960 Speaker 1: have one person do that, which you know, as we 102 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:56,680 Speaker 1: mentioned before, it takes a lot of time. Yeah, you 103 00:05:56,720 --> 00:05:59,000 Speaker 1: might have things like company policies on there that might 104 00:05:59,080 --> 00:06:02,640 Speaker 1: change over time, and or you might have uh, um, 105 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:05,599 Speaker 1: you know, other things like employee contact lists stuff like 106 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:07,760 Speaker 1: that where it makes it easy for someone to come 107 00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:10,320 Speaker 1: in and make a make a change. Let's say that, um, 108 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:13,040 Speaker 1: you've recently moved and you need to update your address. Well, 109 00:06:13,040 --> 00:06:16,000 Speaker 1: instead of emailing one person who is the keeper of 110 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:18,080 Speaker 1: the list, it might be on a wiki where you 111 00:06:18,080 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 1: can just go and log in and uh and make 112 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,400 Speaker 1: a quick change. We'll tell you what. Let's uh, I guess, 113 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:30,360 Speaker 1: we guess we have to go back. Well, it's also yeah, 114 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:32,600 Speaker 1: and we're in We're in Hawaii and there's a lot 115 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:34,480 Speaker 1: of sun. All right, let's get on in. Come on, 116 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:47,040 Speaker 1: let's go back to you. You are oil man. It's 117 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:50,440 Speaker 1: tough coming back anyway. You're going ahead and get out. 118 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:54,200 Speaker 1: I'll come on, come on. We can't do that alright. 119 00:06:54,279 --> 00:06:58,080 Speaker 1: So we have this web collaboration tool that various companies 120 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:05,520 Speaker 1: and organizations start using in order to build communal um information. Yes, sectors. 121 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:07,120 Speaker 1: I guess you could say. It's kind of hard to 122 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:09,240 Speaker 1: to put a your finger on it. Like you said, 123 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:12,600 Speaker 1: it is kind of like a miniature worldwide web. Um, yeah, 124 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:15,400 Speaker 1: it's it's it's funny because it's in a way it's 125 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:19,480 Speaker 1: like a web page. Because wikis generally, especially software used 126 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:23,120 Speaker 1: specifically to create a wiki, something like media wiki, which 127 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:28,000 Speaker 1: is UM, the software used to build Wikipedia. UM. You 128 00:07:28,040 --> 00:07:30,400 Speaker 1: can it's free for you to use. You can install 129 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 1: it on your own website to use UM. It has 130 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 1: markup in it to UM. The way you create and 131 00:07:36,600 --> 00:07:38,679 Speaker 1: you know, add a link to copy on the page 132 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:41,560 Speaker 1: or or you know, add some information to the page 133 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:45,520 Speaker 1: is kind of similar to HTML. UM. It's it's not 134 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:47,880 Speaker 1: exactly the same. But if you you know, want to 135 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:50,880 Speaker 1: uh add a link to copy, for example, you just UM, 136 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:53,960 Speaker 1: you know, put a tag around where the copy is 137 00:07:54,480 --> 00:07:57,240 Speaker 1: and add the link in there and it's ready to go. 138 00:07:57,280 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 1: And as a matter of fact, is a little simpler 139 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:02,960 Speaker 1: even then using HTML right, and you can host files 140 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:05,200 Speaker 1: and things on a on a server and links to 141 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 1: it through the wiki. So UM, but it's not exactly 142 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:10,440 Speaker 1: it's not exactly the same thing as the UH as 143 00:08:10,480 --> 00:08:13,400 Speaker 1: the World Wide Web, and it's also not as uh, 144 00:08:13,520 --> 00:08:15,520 Speaker 1: you know, real time is something like I don't know, 145 00:08:15,560 --> 00:08:18,360 Speaker 1: Google Wave, where you have, you know, a wave going 146 00:08:18,400 --> 00:08:21,080 Speaker 1: on and people can make changes to it at the 147 00:08:21,160 --> 00:08:24,680 Speaker 1: same time. It's not and it does not date like that, 148 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:27,280 Speaker 1: though I would say that Google Wave definitely must have 149 00:08:27,320 --> 00:08:30,400 Speaker 1: been in the developers Google Wave had to be inspired 150 00:08:30,440 --> 00:08:33,480 Speaker 1: by wikis. It's pretty clear, yeah it's wiki, Like, yeah, 151 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:38,920 Speaker 1: it's a it's definitely spawn of wiki. But now let's 152 00:08:38,960 --> 00:08:40,720 Speaker 1: move on. Now that we kind of talked about what 153 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:42,920 Speaker 1: a wicki is and that it's, you know, a communally 154 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:48,199 Speaker 1: operated and maintained source of information of some sort, let's 155 00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:54,240 Speaker 1: let's sort of segue into Wikipedia itself. Now, Wikipedia was 156 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:57,240 Speaker 1: the brainchild of a couple of different people, Jimmy Wales 157 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:01,960 Speaker 1: and Lawrence Singer Um, but it it kind of rose 158 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:06,120 Speaker 1: up out of the failure of another enterprise. That enterprise 159 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:10,120 Speaker 1: was called nupedia right now. Nupedia was created back in 160 00:09:10,120 --> 00:09:13,679 Speaker 1: two thousand and that was supposed to be an encyclopedia 161 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:17,440 Speaker 1: kind of resource, much like Wikipedia turned out to be. 162 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:22,120 Speaker 1: But the major difference was Nupedia was supposed to have 163 00:09:22,360 --> 00:09:26,800 Speaker 1: expert written and peer reviewed articles in it, So we're 164 00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:30,079 Speaker 1: talking about stuff that's written by people who are recognized 165 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:32,880 Speaker 1: as experts in whatever field it happens to be, and 166 00:09:32,960 --> 00:09:35,160 Speaker 1: that it went everything was supposed to go through a 167 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:39,360 Speaker 1: pretty rigorous review process. The problem with that is that 168 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:44,040 Speaker 1: it's slow. It takes a lot of time to generate 169 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:46,800 Speaker 1: that kind of content, to review it to make sure 170 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:51,160 Speaker 1: that everything is accurate, and then to upload. It's no, see, 171 00:09:51,200 --> 00:09:54,720 Speaker 1: it's not wicky at all, it um it is. However, 172 00:09:54,760 --> 00:09:58,520 Speaker 1: how certain sites like how stuff Works does things. Yes, 173 00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:01,000 Speaker 1: you know, we we make sure that we'll all of 174 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:04,400 Speaker 1: our articles are we write our articles, we we research 175 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:06,400 Speaker 1: write them and then edit them before they ever go 176 00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:10,400 Speaker 1: up on the site, and they are reviewed. Um. For example, 177 00:10:11,360 --> 00:10:14,040 Speaker 1: Jonathan gets you know, a certain amount of time to 178 00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:16,360 Speaker 1: write an article, and then he gives it to me. Well, 179 00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:19,640 Speaker 1: once I've had an opportunity to you know, make changes 180 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:21,640 Speaker 1: to that basically replace all the words in there with 181 00:10:21,679 --> 00:10:25,800 Speaker 1: my own. Um. I almost made a spit take if 182 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:27,600 Speaker 1: I had time. That just right, you always take out 183 00:10:27,640 --> 00:10:32,960 Speaker 1: the word poopy. Um. Once I've had an opportunity to 184 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:35,480 Speaker 1: edit the article, we send it to another editor who 185 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:37,920 Speaker 1: has an opportunity to go through and make sure that 186 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:41,880 Speaker 1: everything is okay, that nothing stands out as uh uh, 187 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:46,280 Speaker 1: you know, being grammatically incorrect or having voice or having 188 00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:48,640 Speaker 1: the wrong voice, or a flaw and logic or something 189 00:10:49,080 --> 00:10:52,319 Speaker 1: um so, which you know does happen never in Jonathan's 190 00:10:52,400 --> 00:10:56,360 Speaker 1: articles of Um, I never use logic, but well, we 191 00:10:56,440 --> 00:10:59,160 Speaker 1: do that before it's even even published, and then we 192 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:02,720 Speaker 1: have our publishing operations team take the article and actually 193 00:11:02,760 --> 00:11:05,920 Speaker 1: put it on the website itself. And this does not 194 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:08,280 Speaker 1: happen in a span of twenty four hours. No, this 195 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:10,960 Speaker 1: is this process from the moment when someone gets an 196 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:13,319 Speaker 1: assignment to the moment when it goes up on the site. 197 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:18,360 Speaker 1: Can be usually it's right around two to three weeks generally, 198 00:11:18,720 --> 00:11:21,480 Speaker 1: but it can be longer. I mean, we schedule things 199 00:11:21,559 --> 00:11:23,720 Speaker 1: out well ahead of time in order to because we 200 00:11:23,800 --> 00:11:28,120 Speaker 1: take that into account. Well, when new Pedia launched after 201 00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:31,560 Speaker 1: six months, do you know how many articles they published? Seven? 202 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:37,240 Speaker 1: Too many? You you you're, you're That numbers too high. 203 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:44,960 Speaker 1: Six months, six months, because the process was very rigorous. 204 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:49,160 Speaker 1: So they started to uh to think, you know, this 205 00:11:49,320 --> 00:11:51,640 Speaker 1: project is gonna take a really long time to get 206 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:54,480 Speaker 1: off the ground. Maybe we should look at some alternatives 207 00:11:54,480 --> 00:11:57,080 Speaker 1: in the meantime. And that's when they started to think 208 00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:02,480 Speaker 1: about creating a resource where anyone could come in and 209 00:12:02,880 --> 00:12:06,280 Speaker 1: write an article about a particular subject, and anyone else 210 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:09,600 Speaker 1: could come in and edit that article and contribute his 211 00:12:09,720 --> 00:12:13,920 Speaker 1: or her own information to that article. And that became 212 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:16,640 Speaker 1: the basis of Wikipedia. Well, that that should be really 213 00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:19,679 Speaker 1: cool because they're all kinds of people who are not 214 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:23,319 Speaker 1: involved in projects projects like this, who probably have some 215 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:28,960 Speaker 1: kind of expertise with the topics being explained. Right, So theoretically, uh, 216 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:31,720 Speaker 1: you know, I could be writing an article about, say, 217 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:35,079 Speaker 1: roller coasters, and a physicist mat might read that and say, 218 00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:37,160 Speaker 1: oh no, no, You've got most of this right. But 219 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:41,240 Speaker 1: this one section on on inertial velocity is is wrong. 220 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:44,400 Speaker 1: Let me fix that for you. That should that should 221 00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 1: be a good thing, because that way it would be 222 00:12:46,679 --> 00:12:49,199 Speaker 1: more accurate, and in most cases it is a good thing. 223 00:12:49,280 --> 00:12:51,679 Speaker 1: The philosophy that this is based on is called the 224 00:12:51,720 --> 00:12:55,480 Speaker 1: wisdom of the crowd. So the idea being here that 225 00:12:55,480 --> 00:13:00,160 Speaker 1: that if you think of Wikipedia as a resource that 226 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:07,160 Speaker 1: any human being could access and contribute to, then eventually, 227 00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:10,600 Speaker 1: as an article develops over time, you should get the 228 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:14,720 Speaker 1: best information about that particular subject that is out there 229 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:20,040 Speaker 1: because the people who are doing the research, the people 230 00:13:20,040 --> 00:13:24,720 Speaker 1: who really know what they're talking about, can contribute. So uh, 231 00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:29,280 Speaker 1: over the long run, any particular articles should be the 232 00:13:29,320 --> 00:13:33,880 Speaker 1: best article that you could possibly find. There's some problems 233 00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:36,360 Speaker 1: with this though, during the short run. One is that 234 00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:42,920 Speaker 1: you can have someone post incorrect information a right Another 235 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:46,960 Speaker 1: is you can have someone with a personal agenda come 236 00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:50,840 Speaker 1: in and post information that that presents a particular subject 237 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:54,520 Speaker 1: in a good or bad light. Um, yeah, you know, 238 00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:57,640 Speaker 1: I've I've actually had Laura Eats slugs problem with that 239 00:13:57,760 --> 00:14:02,680 Speaker 1: because I've gone in and found information Wait a minute, 240 00:14:03,720 --> 00:14:05,679 Speaker 1: that wasn't actually pertinent to the article right there in 241 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:10,319 Speaker 1: the middle, right, Laura, You're gross. I literally have you 242 00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:12,040 Speaker 1: need to come to an article and in the middle 243 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:16,800 Speaker 1: of the copy was somebody essentially not not in the 244 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:21,320 Speaker 1: Internet sense, tagging the article with some slur against someone 245 00:14:21,360 --> 00:14:23,440 Speaker 1: else that would have nothing to do with the article. 246 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:29,120 Speaker 1: So vandalism is a problem. Yes, that would be factually 247 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:34,480 Speaker 1: inaccurate or intentionally factually inaccurate right now now, Because you 248 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:40,520 Speaker 1: have a community of users who are who are maintaining Wikipedia. Uh, 249 00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:43,720 Speaker 1: most of the time these problems will be found pretty quickly, 250 00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:46,800 Speaker 1: relatively quickly and fixed. But if you have someone who's 251 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:50,040 Speaker 1: really determined to make a mess of things, that could 252 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:52,160 Speaker 1: be an issue for a while until they figure out 253 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:56,400 Speaker 1: a way of either banning that person or actually taking 254 00:14:56,440 --> 00:14:59,680 Speaker 1: the article off from not not removing it from Wikipedia, 255 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:04,280 Speaker 1: but moving people's ability to edit that article. Changes might 256 00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:08,040 Speaker 1: get kept on articles. We've seen that happen particularly with 257 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:11,640 Speaker 1: individuals who are still alive. Anyone who's still alive, that 258 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:14,880 Speaker 1: that an article based on that person often will get 259 00:15:15,040 --> 00:15:17,560 Speaker 1: frozen so that no one can can contribute to it. 260 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:20,440 Speaker 1: So that way, if someone does have a personal grudge 261 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:23,280 Speaker 1: against that that particular individual, they can't just go in 262 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:28,600 Speaker 1: there and and UH completely um ruined that person's reputation 263 00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:33,920 Speaker 1: through various slurs and insults. And these things are particularly 264 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:38,440 Speaker 1: um active in cases in which and at least ones 265 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:43,320 Speaker 1: I've seen politicians like last last year in the United 266 00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:48,440 Speaker 1: or not last year, but two years ago now already um, 267 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:52,080 Speaker 1: you know, the United States presidential elections. Basically anybody who 268 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:57,480 Speaker 1: was related to the candidates UH had to have their 269 00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:01,240 Speaker 1: profiles for frozen to keep people from going in and 270 00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:04,920 Speaker 1: you know, saying all kinds of things about them, you know, 271 00:16:05,000 --> 00:16:07,240 Speaker 1: true and false things that it may not be pertinent 272 00:16:07,280 --> 00:16:11,560 Speaker 1: to the actual entry. You know, everybody involved, so you know, 273 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:14,240 Speaker 1: it wasn't just one side, It was pretty much every side. 274 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:16,800 Speaker 1: But we've seen this even through things that aren't even 275 00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:21,640 Speaker 1: involved in politics, like corporations try to either um to 276 00:16:21,840 --> 00:16:25,680 Speaker 1: censor information that that is harmful to that corporation, or 277 00:16:25,720 --> 00:16:30,560 Speaker 1: to boost the corporation by including almost ad copy type 278 00:16:30,600 --> 00:16:33,920 Speaker 1: stuff in their their articles. Yes, I'm sure that if 279 00:16:33,960 --> 00:16:36,040 Speaker 1: you go to the entry for how Stuff works dot 280 00:16:36,040 --> 00:16:38,520 Speaker 1: com you will find out that tech stuff is the 281 00:16:38,560 --> 00:16:42,880 Speaker 1: best podcast offered by the site. I'm just saying, I 282 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:45,000 Speaker 1: don't know how that information would have gotten in there 283 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:47,240 Speaker 1: if it is still there. But you know, it wasn't 284 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:51,440 Speaker 1: really there. No, I was just wondering being funny. You 285 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:53,280 Speaker 1: never trying to be funny. I was about to go 286 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:56,200 Speaker 1: back and look at the revision history. The revision history 287 00:16:56,280 --> 00:16:58,120 Speaker 1: is actually one of the good things about Wikipedia that 288 00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:00,960 Speaker 1: is very useful. The revision history keep track of all 289 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:03,920 Speaker 1: the changes that are made to an article. So if 290 00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:06,880 Speaker 1: someone does go in and commit some sort of vandalism 291 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:09,320 Speaker 1: or you know, users notice something and they think it's 292 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:12,160 Speaker 1: a little questionable, they can flag the article. Um It's 293 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:14,280 Speaker 1: easy enough to go back through the revision history and 294 00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:18,199 Speaker 1: see when, uh that that change was put in and 295 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:21,200 Speaker 1: who did it, and to change it back if necessary, 296 00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:25,480 Speaker 1: So they have a lot of protections there in place. UM. Now, 297 00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:28,040 Speaker 1: let's kind of get into the whole reason about why 298 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:32,040 Speaker 1: you should not use Wikipedia as a source in things 299 00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:34,840 Speaker 1: like schoolwork and why how stuff works. Dot Com does 300 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:38,160 Speaker 1: not use Wikipedia. There are a couple of reasons. One 301 00:17:38,359 --> 00:17:41,360 Speaker 1: is the malleable nature of Wikipedia that we've already mentioned 302 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:45,800 Speaker 1: is that you know, one, it's impossible to determine on 303 00:17:46,480 --> 00:17:49,040 Speaker 1: on any particular day that the article you are reading 304 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:53,879 Speaker 1: is accurate and factual. Too, even if it is accurate 305 00:17:53,920 --> 00:17:58,919 Speaker 1: and factual, that article may look totally different tomorrow. So 306 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:02,040 Speaker 1: if you cite an article but then the site disappears 307 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:04,640 Speaker 1: because someone's made an edit and has removed that part 308 00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:08,560 Speaker 1: of the article, your your source no longer exists. Yep. 309 00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:10,639 Speaker 1: I mean you could go through the revision history and 310 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:13,760 Speaker 1: try and find it, but that starts getting really kind 311 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:19,400 Speaker 1: of complicated. Three, it's not a primary source. And Wikipedia 312 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:21,600 Speaker 1: actually spells this out if you go to Wikipedia and 313 00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:25,680 Speaker 1: you read what Wikipedia is not. One of the things 314 00:18:25,760 --> 00:18:28,480 Speaker 1: Wikipedia is not is a primary source. Now, what that 315 00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:31,320 Speaker 1: means is that Wikipedia is not a place to publish 316 00:18:31,359 --> 00:18:34,400 Speaker 1: something for the very first time. You if you were 317 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:38,560 Speaker 1: to do a scientific study, you would not publish the 318 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:42,320 Speaker 1: findings of that study in Wikipedia before you published it 319 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:44,240 Speaker 1: anywhere else. You would have to have it published in 320 00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:47,720 Speaker 1: a peer of view journal or some other format. Before 321 00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:50,680 Speaker 1: you could reference it in Wikipedia, and you wouldn't be 322 00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:52,359 Speaker 1: able to publish it if you put it in a 323 00:18:52,359 --> 00:18:54,360 Speaker 1: peer of view journal. They would never like you put 324 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:58,439 Speaker 1: the entire full text of THEIA, but you could at 325 00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:02,640 Speaker 1: least reference the findings you could. Now that's I think 326 00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:05,840 Speaker 1: that alone state is a reason why no one should 327 00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:08,560 Speaker 1: use that in any kind of schoolwork or for house 328 00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:10,560 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Just the fact that it's not 329 00:19:10,640 --> 00:19:16,200 Speaker 1: a primary source um. Usually, whenever I have actually thinking 330 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:18,000 Speaker 1: back on it, I can't think of a single time 331 00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:20,240 Speaker 1: I was a signed of paper where I was told 332 00:19:20,240 --> 00:19:23,480 Speaker 1: that I could use anything other than primary sources. I 333 00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:27,040 Speaker 1: could only use primary sources. Now what that means is 334 00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:29,200 Speaker 1: you can go to Wikipedia and look at the sources 335 00:19:29,240 --> 00:19:32,840 Speaker 1: that Wikipedia used, the people who created that article, and 336 00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:36,679 Speaker 1: track those back and see if those have merit um. 337 00:19:36,720 --> 00:19:38,920 Speaker 1: In most cases you should find that they are coming 338 00:19:38,960 --> 00:19:41,720 Speaker 1: from reputable sources. Once in a while, you might come 339 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:45,040 Speaker 1: across something that was written by you know, some Yahoo 340 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:47,600 Speaker 1: and then you you may not want to use that 341 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:51,840 Speaker 1: as a primary source. But that's that's another good example 342 00:19:52,119 --> 00:19:56,520 Speaker 1: for all students out there. I mean, Wikipedia is maybe 343 00:19:56,600 --> 00:20:00,199 Speaker 1: just uh kind of like a cliffs notes thing. I 344 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:03,199 Speaker 1: don't like the idea of using it other than just 345 00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:06,240 Speaker 1: to go to the bottom and look at the source list. Yeah, 346 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:09,720 Speaker 1: it's it's extremely useful as the source of primary sources, right, 347 00:20:09,760 --> 00:20:13,119 Speaker 1: and it can also uh well, I wouldn't use it 348 00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:18,560 Speaker 1: as uh a source for something that I wrote for publication. Um. 349 00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:20,760 Speaker 1: It is useful to to give you an idea of 350 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:23,520 Speaker 1: a concept. I mean if you have no if you're 351 00:20:23,520 --> 00:20:26,200 Speaker 1: assigned to write of paper on something specific and you 352 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:28,960 Speaker 1: really don't have any understanding of it, you might use 353 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:32,080 Speaker 1: Wikipedia as an opportunity to learn a little bit about 354 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:34,760 Speaker 1: what to expect. When you're doing research on the topic. 355 00:20:34,840 --> 00:20:38,320 Speaker 1: You can kind of do a little uh quick and dirty, well, 356 00:20:38,359 --> 00:20:40,280 Speaker 1: you know, what is this thing about, and then once 357 00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:41,640 Speaker 1: you have an idea of it, you might be able 358 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:44,400 Speaker 1: to go find some primary sources to give you authoritative 359 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,280 Speaker 1: uh information. That's another good point. That another thing that 360 00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:52,479 Speaker 1: they that Wikipedia and the Wikipedia is not folder or 361 00:20:52,600 --> 00:20:56,000 Speaker 1: or article rather, um it states that Wikipedia is not 362 00:20:56,119 --> 00:21:00,439 Speaker 1: meant for people who are experts in whatever particular field 363 00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:03,240 Speaker 1: that article addresses. So in other words, if you're reading 364 00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:05,560 Speaker 1: an article about electricity, you shouldn't have to be an 365 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:10,199 Speaker 1: electrician or someone with an events degree in physics in 366 00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:14,080 Speaker 1: order to understand it. So, um, yeah, it is a 367 00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:17,359 Speaker 1: good introductory element. It's a good way of looking for 368 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:21,000 Speaker 1: primary sources, not necessarily the best if you want to 369 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:26,640 Speaker 1: cite something in an in a academic paper or what 370 00:21:26,680 --> 00:21:30,600 Speaker 1: we do here at how stuff works. So I I've 371 00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:33,760 Speaker 1: often I know that my criticism of Wikipedia in the 372 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:36,520 Speaker 1: past has come across as Wikipedia is a bad thing. 373 00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:38,919 Speaker 1: I don't really think Wikipedia is a bad thing. I 374 00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:43,679 Speaker 1: just think it's not. It's not entirely reliable now, and 375 00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:46,440 Speaker 1: I think it's it's not really it's not really Wikipedia, 376 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:50,120 Speaker 1: and it's not the organization behind Wikipedia. It's people who 377 00:21:50,160 --> 00:21:52,640 Speaker 1: go in and mess with it, and people who go 378 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:57,120 Speaker 1: in to write articles that aren't, you know, factually accurate. Yeah. 379 00:21:57,200 --> 00:22:01,600 Speaker 1: I I've seen articles on Wikipedia that We're just a joke, 380 00:22:02,040 --> 00:22:05,119 Speaker 1: and they were funny. But and and of course, the 381 00:22:05,119 --> 00:22:08,000 Speaker 1: the community did the right thing and eventually took the 382 00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:11,520 Speaker 1: page down, which um, I was sad about at the time, 383 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:13,479 Speaker 1: But at the same time I was like, well, if 384 00:22:13,520 --> 00:22:18,720 Speaker 1: Wikipedia didn't take that page down, then the entire community 385 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:21,800 Speaker 1: becomes a joke, not just that page, because they said, well, look, 386 00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:24,159 Speaker 1: we're we know this isn't real, but we're gonna let 387 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:28,159 Speaker 1: it slide. That's that's they can't be taken seriously if 388 00:22:28,200 --> 00:22:31,400 Speaker 1: they do that. So they made the right choice. But um, 389 00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:33,880 Speaker 1: I will add to though that the uh that other 390 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:38,080 Speaker 1: people are starting to take this kind of thinking and 391 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:41,720 Speaker 1: apply it to their own products and services, like for example, 392 00:22:42,119 --> 00:22:46,159 Speaker 1: Britannica dot com announced a while back now, um I 393 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:48,359 Speaker 1: guess it's probably a couple of years now, um that 394 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:51,760 Speaker 1: they were going to allow people to uh contribute to 395 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:55,640 Speaker 1: Britannic you know, Britannica online. And you're going, wait a minute, 396 00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:59,840 Speaker 1: I mean, this is like the ultimate peer reviewed, high 397 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:02,719 Speaker 1: end encyclopedia. Why would they do this, Well, they're not 398 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:07,640 Speaker 1: publishing changes before those changes are reviewed by an expert 399 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:10,040 Speaker 1: as well, so they are they have put in that 400 00:23:10,200 --> 00:23:12,160 Speaker 1: that extra layer of well, hey, if you know something 401 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:16,280 Speaker 1: about this, please tell us, but we're going before we 402 00:23:16,359 --> 00:23:18,320 Speaker 1: publish this, we're going to check it out and make 403 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:21,320 Speaker 1: sure that it's accurate. And Jimmy Wales has suggested that 404 00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:24,359 Speaker 1: the opposite might end up being used over at Wikipedia, 405 00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:26,960 Speaker 1: where they might try and get experts for certain kinds 406 00:23:26,960 --> 00:23:30,240 Speaker 1: of articles to review them and make sure everything is accurate. 407 00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:34,000 Speaker 1: So In other other words, the two different encyclopedia are 408 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:37,320 Speaker 1: becoming more and more like each other, which is remarkable 409 00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:39,639 Speaker 1: when you think about it. Um, there are other things 410 00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:42,960 Speaker 1: you can use wikis for besides just an information source. 411 00:23:43,200 --> 00:23:46,800 Speaker 1: You know, people are using them to write novels, um 412 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:49,160 Speaker 1: and there be because they allow contributions, so you can 413 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:51,720 Speaker 1: have a collaborative novel. That's one of the more interesting 414 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:57,040 Speaker 1: um uses I've seen for wiki software. My favorite wiki 415 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:00,159 Speaker 1: was introduced to me today. Oh what is it? Dc 416 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:04,119 Speaker 1: Wilson of our our beloved Tracy. She sent me a 417 00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:08,919 Speaker 1: link to ten word wiki. It's a wiki wiki that 418 00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:12,080 Speaker 1: is sort of like an encyclopedia, but every single entry 419 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:15,440 Speaker 1: in the wiki is only ten words long, and many 420 00:24:15,480 --> 00:24:20,720 Speaker 1: of them are halarious. So I do recommend the tin 421 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:23,280 Speaker 1: word wiki if you want to kill an hour or 422 00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:27,960 Speaker 1: two looking up. And of course, just like Wikipedia, it's 423 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:30,560 Speaker 1: a lot easier to find the pop culture reference stuff 424 00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:33,480 Speaker 1: than anything else on there. Um that that is one 425 00:24:33,480 --> 00:24:35,399 Speaker 1: other thing I did want to add, just really quickly. 426 00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:41,160 Speaker 1: The the other danger of having a community oriented encyclopedia 427 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:47,679 Speaker 1: is that you're gonna get entries that uh that if 428 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:50,040 Speaker 1: you were to to judge the entry by the length, 429 00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:52,800 Speaker 1: how many words are in there. You would start to 430 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:55,960 Speaker 1: get the feeling that, um, certain pop culture items are 431 00:24:56,040 --> 00:24:59,240 Speaker 1: far more important to us than say, the founding fathers 432 00:24:59,240 --> 00:25:01,960 Speaker 1: of the United States of America. Then you do a 433 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:04,680 Speaker 1: search on the founding fathers and you might find articles 434 00:25:04,680 --> 00:25:06,400 Speaker 1: that are a few, you know, two thousand to four 435 00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:08,919 Speaker 1: thousand words long. That's a pretty good long article. But 436 00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:10,840 Speaker 1: then you look for optimist Prime and it has over 437 00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:13,880 Speaker 1: seven thousand words, and you're thinking, wow, optimist Prime must 438 00:25:13,880 --> 00:25:16,720 Speaker 1: have been really important if the Founding Fathers of America 439 00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:21,359 Speaker 1: only warrant two to four thousand words. Yep, yep, Um, 440 00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:23,399 Speaker 1: I mean there is more than meets the eye, So 441 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:27,320 Speaker 1: I guess there's that. Um. I realized that it's not 442 00:25:27,320 --> 00:25:31,280 Speaker 1: probably technically a wicky, but one of my favorites. Um, well, 443 00:25:31,320 --> 00:25:36,000 Speaker 1: there's the Encyclopedia, which is which is quite entertaining. And 444 00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:39,280 Speaker 1: you know, I like, uh, the Muppet wiki over at 445 00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:41,360 Speaker 1: wikia dot com, which is a hosting site for many 446 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:44,200 Speaker 1: many wikies. Um, and uh, I don't know that it's 447 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:47,120 Speaker 1: technically a wicky, but everything to dot com is very 448 00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:49,679 Speaker 1: very like a wiki. If it's not technically considered one, 449 00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:51,960 Speaker 1: I don't think it's actually using one of the wiki platforms. 450 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:55,120 Speaker 1: But um, those have that that side has many humorous 451 00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:58,400 Speaker 1: uh topics written in there. And to say you would 452 00:25:58,400 --> 00:26:01,520 Speaker 1: never use it as a resource, I mean maybe a 453 00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:04,920 Speaker 1: resource for entertainment, but you know, people are using the 454 00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:08,560 Speaker 1: top the concept you know of of user generated content 455 00:26:08,760 --> 00:26:11,720 Speaker 1: in this environment to uh, you know, for all kinds 456 00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:13,560 Speaker 1: of really good things. And it's just it's fast and 457 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:17,440 Speaker 1: easy to learn and jump in and contribute to. So 458 00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:20,280 Speaker 1: you know, it's it's a neat idea. Yep. Well, Matt, 459 00:26:20,320 --> 00:26:23,159 Speaker 1: I hope that answers your question. Uh. And and Matt's 460 00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:26,240 Speaker 1: students don't use Wikipedia as a prime source. It's not 461 00:26:26,359 --> 00:26:29,880 Speaker 1: meant for that. Um. But that leads us to our 462 00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:38,880 Speaker 1: second round of listener mail. This comes from Jamal from 463 00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:41,800 Speaker 1: Delray Beach, Florida, and Jamal says, hey, there, Chris and Jonathan. 464 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:43,960 Speaker 1: My name is Jamal, and I just recently discovered the 465 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:46,680 Speaker 1: text of podcast and love it. My question is about 466 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:50,359 Speaker 1: computer processors and hard drives. Until recently, processors and drives 467 00:26:50,359 --> 00:26:53,359 Speaker 1: were increasing in powering capacity at a near exponential rate. 468 00:26:53,640 --> 00:26:56,159 Speaker 1: Hard Drives are currently up to two terabytes and storage 469 00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:59,560 Speaker 1: space and show no signs of slowing down. However, processors 470 00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:01,679 Speaker 1: have stalled at around three point eight giga hurts and 471 00:27:01,680 --> 00:27:06,720 Speaker 1: processing power. To skirt this limitation, CPU manufacturers are introducing 472 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:08,960 Speaker 1: dual core and quad core processors. I believe there is 473 00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:11,280 Speaker 1: a scientific law that explains how a hard drive or 474 00:27:11,320 --> 00:27:14,680 Speaker 1: CPU would increase in storage capacity or processing power exponentially. 475 00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:18,199 Speaker 1: My question is how do scientists and or manufacturers go 476 00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:21,119 Speaker 1: about increasing hard drive storage space and maintain the small 477 00:27:21,119 --> 00:27:23,720 Speaker 1: size of the hardware. And why have computer processors reached 478 00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:25,360 Speaker 1: the ceiling of three point eight gigga hurts. I hope 479 00:27:25,400 --> 00:27:27,800 Speaker 1: my question makes sense. I only revised it eight times. 480 00:27:28,119 --> 00:27:30,240 Speaker 1: Love the show. And then he goes on to say 481 00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:33,080 Speaker 1: that he remembered the scientific law as Moore's law. So 482 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:35,719 Speaker 1: Moore's law is not really a scientific law. It's more 483 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:39,440 Speaker 1: of a self fulfilling prophecy and an observation UM. And 484 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:42,600 Speaker 1: the observation was that over a given amount of time, 485 00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:47,359 Speaker 1: the number of transistors on a chip would double, And 486 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:49,879 Speaker 1: that given amount of time has changed over the years 487 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:53,400 Speaker 1: between twelve months to twenty four months, depending on when 488 00:27:53,440 --> 00:27:58,479 Speaker 1: you're looking at it. UM. In general, the way these 489 00:27:58,520 --> 00:28:02,560 Speaker 1: processing microprocess or plants go as they find new ways 490 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:06,320 Speaker 1: to create smaller transistors, and then that's that's called a 491 00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:09,680 Speaker 1: tick round. The tick is when you find a new 492 00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:12,960 Speaker 1: way to create smaller transistors. And then the talk round 493 00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:17,960 Speaker 1: would be ways of creating an architecture that maximizes the 494 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:24,600 Speaker 1: efficiency of those transistors. So TikTok, TikTok, and Uh, the 495 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:28,520 Speaker 1: Nehalem processor that Intel came out with was a tick round. 496 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:30,840 Speaker 1: The next one will be a talk around where they 497 00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:34,359 Speaker 1: they maximize the potential of that. Uh, we're getting to 498 00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:37,160 Speaker 1: a limit just because we're getting two transistors that are 499 00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:41,000 Speaker 1: so small that it's there. Another major breakthrough is going 500 00:28:41,080 --> 00:28:43,800 Speaker 1: to have to happen in order to make transistors even 501 00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:46,480 Speaker 1: smaller if we want to fit them on the same 502 00:28:46,480 --> 00:28:48,920 Speaker 1: size chips that we've been using in the past. Um, 503 00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:51,200 Speaker 1: the different cores are a way of kind of getting 504 00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:54,080 Speaker 1: around that. That also requires that we go about a 505 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:57,000 Speaker 1: different way of programming. And if I'm not mistaken, there's 506 00:28:57,040 --> 00:29:00,640 Speaker 1: a certain point at which the materials inside the processor 507 00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:04,920 Speaker 1: gets so small that electrons begin to leak. Yeah. It 508 00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:09,880 Speaker 1: uses electron tunneling, which is a quantum physics concept. Yeah, 509 00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:12,480 Speaker 1: and you can get around that using different materials can 510 00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:16,600 Speaker 1: can limit electron tunneling UM, and it may end up 511 00:29:16,600 --> 00:29:19,680 Speaker 1: being that the next step is to find uh something 512 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:23,600 Speaker 1: that is um is different from a transistor entirely, which 513 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:26,640 Speaker 1: sounds crazy, but then you think, well, before transistors, there 514 00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:30,040 Speaker 1: were vacuum tubes. It's not like it's unprecedented. It just 515 00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:32,360 Speaker 1: would require something that we don't have enough knowledge of 516 00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:34,400 Speaker 1: right now to to say this is gonna be it. 517 00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:39,040 Speaker 1: So it may be that we hit a maybe not 518 00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:43,000 Speaker 1: a plateau, but a much slower increase in power over 519 00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:45,800 Speaker 1: the next few years. Doesn't necessarily mean More's law will 520 00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:49,400 Speaker 1: totally go away. Because engineers are brilliant. They find neat 521 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:52,600 Speaker 1: ways around problems. That's what they do, So uh, I 522 00:29:52,600 --> 00:29:54,800 Speaker 1: would I wouldn't be surprised to see it stretch out 523 00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:58,160 Speaker 1: a little longer UM, although I also have predicted the 524 00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:00,240 Speaker 1: end of Moore's law just like every other gym list 525 00:30:00,280 --> 00:30:04,120 Speaker 1: over the last twenty years. Well thanks a lot, Jamal. 526 00:30:04,240 --> 00:30:06,200 Speaker 1: I hope that answers your question. If any of you 527 00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:09,000 Speaker 1: have questions, write us our email addresses tex stuff at 528 00:30:09,040 --> 00:30:11,840 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. Chris and I always like 529 00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:14,840 Speaker 1: to hear your comments, and uh go over to the 530 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:17,280 Speaker 1: website read some stuff about wiki's we got an article 531 00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:21,360 Speaker 1: written there by the site founder Marshall Brain, so check 532 00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:23,760 Speaker 1: that out and we will talk to you again really 533 00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:28,920 Speaker 1: soon for more on this and thousands of other topics. 534 00:30:29,040 --> 00:30:31,440 Speaker 1: Does it how stuff works dot com and be sure 535 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:33,560 Speaker 1: to check out the new tech stuff blog now on 536 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:40,440 Speaker 1: the House stuff Works homepage, brought to you by the 537 00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:43,880 Speaker 1: reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, are you