Who is editing most of the entries on Wikipedia, the open online encyclopedia that anyone can edit? For government agencies, NASA wins by a large margin, according to the Web site WikiScanner.
WikiScanner was created by Virgil Griffith, a California Institute of Technology graduate student who is now the talk of the blogging community. Visitors to WikiScanner can search the millions of anonymous Wikipedia edits to find the IP addresses from where the edits originated. You can search by organization name or use a range of IP addresses. You can also search to find the specific edited portion of a Wikipedia entry, but that search function has been disabled for now because the site is experiencing large amounts of traffic.
News articles worldwide have searched the database to show how Wikipedia can be used to edit portions of Wikipedia entries for political purposes and to remove portions of entries that may criticize government programs or policies. Here's one form Toronto's Globe and Mail.
The government agencies that have been cited by WikiScanner for more than 1,000 edits to Wikipedia entries are listed below. The number represents the number of times a computer at that government organization was used to edit an entry on Wikipedia. (What exactly was edited cannot be determined until the WikiScanner edit search function is restored.) Many science-related government agencies make the list, although the departments of Veteran Affairs and Homeland Security and the U.S. House of Representatives rank 2, 3, and 5, respectively.
1. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (nasa.gov) 6,846 2. Department Of Veterans Affairs (va.gov) 4,210 3. Forestry And Fire Protection (ca.gov) 4,148 4. Dept Homeland Security (dhs.gov) 4,081 5. Information Systems U.S. House Of Representatives (house.gov) 3,736 6. National Institutes Of Health (nih.gov) 3,019 7. U.S. Courts (uscourts.gov) 2,869 8. U.S. Dept. Of Agriculture (usda.gov) 2,435 9. City Of New York (nyc.gov) 2,404 10. Salem Public Schools (ct.gov) 2,398 11. U.S. Dept Of Justice (usdoj.gov) 2,189 12. Information Services Division (nd.gov) 2,140 13. U.S. Senate Sergeant At Arms (senate.gov) 1,809 14. Federal Aviation Administration (faa.gov) 1,706 15. NOAA Aircraft Operations Center (noaa.gov) 1,590 16. Dotrspavolpe Center (dot.gov) 1,566 17. Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (llnl.gov) 1,456 18. U.S. Department Of Labor/Employment Standards Admin (dol-esa.gov) 1,449 19. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (epa.gov) 1,449 20. Internal Revenue Service (irs.gov) 1,290 21. National Park Service (nps.gov) 1,214 22. Library Of Congress Information Technology Services (loc.gov) 1,142 23. Social Security Administration (ssa.gov) 1,134 24. U.S. Patent And Trademark Office (uspto.gov) 1,097 25. Virginia Information Technologies Agency (Vita) (virginia.gov) 1,047
WikiScanner provides "Wired's list of salacious edits" on a stand alone page. The list provides some of the more troublesome edits and from where they originated, including some from government agencies such as "FBI removes aerial images of Guantanamo," according to the salacious edits page.
Some of the edits are written with a pre-pubescent sense of humor, such as one coming from the Defense Network Information Center on the New Orleans Jazz Fest.
Then there are the more serious ones, such as the edit from the Federal Trade Commission on former FTC Chairman Michael Powell, who resigned in 2005. "According to someone at the FCC, they 'Tried to balance the article with a more neutral point-of-view.' You be the judge," according to the salacious page.
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Wasn't there recently a wiki war on the lyme entry? When the edit search function is restored on this website, someone should see where those edits came from.
[ 17. August 2007, 12:33 PM: Message edited by: lou ]
Posts: 8430 | From Not available | Registered: Oct 2000
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posted
Lou, thanks! Very interesting... I always wondered who spends time to write and edit Wiki articles... I have already edited there minor things in my own field of competence, but when I see a blank page with "be the first to..." on it, I lack the energy to compose a balanced text. Knowing that agencies are going to edit it after me is not very stimulating either... Aren't those people paid to work, and not to lurk and edit on Wiki?
Posts: 142 | From Paris, France | Registered: Oct 2000
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CaliforniaLyme
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 7136
posted
Yup, I've been enjoying learning about the McSweegan page at sci.med. He deserves that page- he has earned it- !! Too bad he doesn't htink so*)!!! For him*)!*)!
-------------------- There is no wealth but life. -John Ruskin
All truth goes through 3 stages: first it is ridiculed: then it is violently opposed: finally it is accepted as self evident. - Schopenhauer Posts: 5639 | From Aptos CA USA | Registered: Apr 2005
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dontlikeliver
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 4749
posted
Maybe rather than it being employees at these agencies doing their own things while at work, it is the agencies themselves which 'orders' the employees to do this as PART OF their work.
This way the can influence what the masses believe in the direction of any agenda they have, I guess.
Posts: 2824 | From The Back of Beyond | Registered: Oct 2003
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