Records and Facts

Just how much info is on Wikipedia

Early Wikipedia by gfpeck, on Flickr
Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic LicensePhoto by  gfpeck

How much information is contained on the Wikipedia website?

This is something that is almost unmeasurable considering the content of that site just like many others is constantly growing in size.  But this is kind of an example of just how much we rely on the World Wide Web for harvesting the beloved information we so desperately need!

 

Known as Encyclopedia Gigantica

A Connecticut-based British designer Rob Matthews took this idea and made it a reality.  His test just to see how much we actually rely on the internet for information.  He took 437 articles from the popular site Wikipedia and published a book that was 19 inches thick.

That sounds like a lot of information huh?  Well guess what, those 437 articles he used represented only 0.002 percent of the content available on the Wikipedia website.  Keep in mind the site is still growing on a daily basis.

Using current statistics, if  all the current articles on their website were made into a book, it would be over 225 million pages in length.  Ready for this?  That would make this book 13.5 miles thick and would require a bookshelf the length of Manhattan Island, New York to hold it

 
For those of you that remember the little desk reference sets in hard bound books called encyclopedias. Just imagine all the information we were missing out on as kids by that being all that was available to us!

Similar Posts

13 thoughts on “Just how much info is on Wikipedia
  1. kingmirza, I agree, very informative site indeed.

    Lucie, that’s true, we have to be careful when absorbing information from the internet, although I believe wikipedia is probably one of the more accurate sources.

  2. Info on wikipedia is not necessarily always true. I think the staff there are very thorough, but anyone can edit it to suit there fancy.

    1. That’s very true, I don’t use wikipedia much at all, and am not familiar with the editing abilities of it. But I’ve read something about that. How does that work? Are edits held for everyone to see, or are they account specific, to where they will only show for the person if they’re logged in?

  3. Well, everyone has the ability to edit any Wikipedia, I think they think anyone can be an information source. The danger is that with everyone constantly pooling information in Wikipedia, who is completely fact checking all that information?

    1. You know, that’s kind of scary because wikipedia is a major information source for people doing school projects etc. There’s no way they could staff enough people to proof all the information that is undoubtedly pouring into it’s database.

  4. Robert, you are so right. I really hope the future doesen’t do away with traditional methods of research. It’s not like I have been to a library or own research materials, but I think there is still room for real experts on different matters.

    1. Oh absolutely…I believe there will always be room for the people that dominate their field. After all without them, there would be no wikipedia. 🙂

  5. WIKIPEDIA is a great source of information and it provides information about almost everything one can think about.

    1. Very true, It blows me away as to how much information that site contains. Although sometimes they can ruin a good subject by adding too much information. Sometimes it’s good to leave some things up to the imagination.

  6. Wikipedia is the best source of free information about each and every aspect of life and knowledge what ever you can think or imagine with the reality that it allows any one to edit the content but only if he/she can provide reliable resource.

    1. Indeed Jamshed there is a wealth of information on wikipedia, but there is also a lot of misinformation from what I’ve seen. I have never trusted the information contained there enough to call it fact. But that still doesn’t dismiss the fact that there is a ton of stuff there to learn. If nothing else it can spark curiosity and lead you to other more reliable resources in hopes of verifying what you’ve read.

      But I have to agree with your statement, there is indeed a million different subjects there to absorb, I also agree that it’s a neat option to be able to add more reputable information to each entry.

Comments are closed.