Most Japanese think Wikipedia needs specialist verification
The last time I looked at Wikipedia (just two days ago it was), it was wrong, and in addition the official building name is actually HEP FIVE, all in capitals, I believe. To see how the Japanese react to Wikipedia, japan.internet.com reported on the third regular monthly survey on Wikipedia conducted by goo Research.
Demographics
Between the 3rd and 7th of September 2007 1,078 members of goo Research’s online monitor pool completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.4% of the sample was male, 16.4% in their teens, 17.9% in their twenties, 21.7% in their thirties, 16.0% in their forties, and 28.0% aged fifty or older.
Just to stand on my soapbox for a minute, I think bloggers who link to Wikipedia are just being lazy. One gets no brownie points for linking to it, and in fact you are perhaps weakening your own article and strengthening Wikipedia in the search engine rankings. Conversely, if one links to another blogger who appears more knowledgeble on the subject, you are making contact with someone human, leaving a trackback in their blog that might result in a couple of new visitors to your site, and you may find the blogger will link back to you at a later date to return the favour.
In Q1SQ2, I think “other” is the correct answer! Wikipedia is by design unverified and unverifiable, so to ask the question implies a misunderstanding of the concept behind it.
Research results
Q1: Do you know of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia? (Sample size=1,078)
Yes (to SQs) 79.7% No 20.3% This awareness is up a mere 0.9 percentage points from last month’s survey.
Q1SQ1: Do you think you can trust the articles in Wikipedia? (Sample size=818)
Trust them sufficiently 12.0% Trust them a little 79.6% Don’t really trust them 8.1% Don’t trust them at all 0.4% Q1SQ2: Do you think the articles in Wikipedia need specialist verification? (Sample size=818)
Is needed 35.2% Needed for some parts 54.4% Don’t think it is needed 9.7% Other 0.7%
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Durf said,
September 25, 2007 @ 12:28
Re the all caps thing, let me put on my editor’s hat and say that the common Japanese choice to write things in SCREAMING CAPS is almost always a typographic consideration, not a question of correct spelling. If HEP stands for something, then all of those letters get capitalized to mark the acronym; but unless FIVE also signifies “Fine Impregnable Virile Edifice” or something it’s perfectly acceptable to write it according to rules of English usage in an English document.
Vaguely related anecdote: When Konishiki quit the sumo world he said he wanted to keep using his name as a 芸能人, and the Nihon Sumo Kyokai said “no, you can’t.” They keep names in the system and recycle them from time to time. So he gave up the characters 小錦 and went with the romanized Konishiki; when the Kyokai squawked yet again he went to the all-cap KONISHIKI. So that’s his official name in the Japanese show-biz setting now. But he still gets described as Konishiki in English.