Wikipedia to Color-Code Unreliable Information

Posted on September 3, 2009 in Business/Law, Technology

The Internet source for random information wants you to trust what you read. Starting later in the fall, online encyclopedia Wikipedia will be color-coding articles based on their reliability.

Currently, anyone can contribute information to Wikipedia by anonymously making online edits. Faulty facts have surfaced in articles ranging from the American Revolution to popular television shows. A new program called WikiTrust is designed to weed out less reliable sources based on the length of time the article has existed on the page.

Look for bright orange coding to indicate questionable authors or information. As more people view and edit the text, it gradually turns to white. Regular contributors are assigned a score based on how reliable they have been in the past. However, the score is kept private to encourage new contributors who haven’t had a chance to make a name for themselves.You can also click a “trust info” tab to filter through tidbits of information that have passed muster.

The new development comes from the Wiki Lab at the University of Santa Cruz, California. Although WikiTrust has been used as a MediaWiki extension since November 2008, Wikipedia recently decided to add the feature to the website.