I’d expect something like (a): get experts to say whether the articles constitute a reasonable survey of the field. We’d probably need (d) as well, because the way I just defined (a) is one definition of a good neutral Wikipedia article.
Is Britannica trying specifically for neutrality? It claims authority (whereas Wikipedia explicitly claims none which is why we’re so obsessive about references), but I’m not sure it kowtows to such culturally relativistic notions as “neutral”. The Wikipedia article on Britannica notes that EB has been lauded as increasingly less biased with time, but then Wikipedia would note that. Glancing at britannica.com, I can’t find a claim as to what it represents editorially except that it’s Britannica, you know, Britannica, so I’m not sure what would be a fair test to them.
This is getting wildly off topic … I suppose it’s vaguely related to politics by reframing while trying to be aware of and flag the reframings so as to avoid mind-killing … this is the sort of thing my autodidact’s knowledge of postmodernism comes in handy for.
I wouldn’t mind “ask experts who do not post to Wikipedia or write for Britannica” to rate the articles for accuracy, neutrality, etc. I would expect them to call Wikipedia more comprehensive, to call Britannica more neutral, and I have no idea which would be rated more accurate. If they did indeed call the Wikipedia articles more neutral, I’d have to update my understanding of the field.
My experience: I fixed mistakes in two articles, then got thoroughly distressed and stopped participating. I’m an anesthesiologist, as background. The first article was on a painkiller, and I found my changes overwritten by a drug enthusiast who believes/writes that narcotics are non-addictive. I did not push the issue. The second article was on anesthesia, and I linked to a reference document published by the American Society of Anesthesiologists (the premier research organization of anesthesiologists in the US.) A nurse anesthetist editor was very proud of his ability to prevent any documents from the ASA from being linked to on the page while maintaining a link to the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, and made it clear that it was his “turf” and that he was highly political. I did persist briefly to see what would happen: he tracked my real identity and threatened me. I immediately lost all interest.
I don’t believe Britannica is trying for neutrality per se. I believe it’s trying for objectivity, which is related but nonidentical. On many topics wikipedia attempts objectivity as well rather than neutrality (evolution vs intelligent design, for instance).
I’d expect something like (a): get experts to say whether the articles constitute a reasonable survey of the field. We’d probably need (d) as well, because the way I just defined (a) is one definition of a good neutral Wikipedia article.
Is Britannica trying specifically for neutrality? It claims authority (whereas Wikipedia explicitly claims none which is why we’re so obsessive about references), but I’m not sure it kowtows to such culturally relativistic notions as “neutral”. The Wikipedia article on Britannica notes that EB has been lauded as increasingly less biased with time, but then Wikipedia would note that. Glancing at britannica.com, I can’t find a claim as to what it represents editorially except that it’s Britannica, you know, Britannica, so I’m not sure what would be a fair test to them.
This is getting wildly off topic … I suppose it’s vaguely related to politics by reframing while trying to be aware of and flag the reframings so as to avoid mind-killing … this is the sort of thing my autodidact’s knowledge of postmodernism comes in handy for.
I wouldn’t mind “ask experts who do not post to Wikipedia or write for Britannica” to rate the articles for accuracy, neutrality, etc. I would expect them to call Wikipedia more comprehensive, to call Britannica more neutral, and I have no idea which would be rated more accurate. If they did indeed call the Wikipedia articles more neutral, I’d have to update my understanding of the field.
My experience: I fixed mistakes in two articles, then got thoroughly distressed and stopped participating. I’m an anesthesiologist, as background. The first article was on a painkiller, and I found my changes overwritten by a drug enthusiast who believes/writes that narcotics are non-addictive. I did not push the issue. The second article was on anesthesia, and I linked to a reference document published by the American Society of Anesthesiologists (the premier research organization of anesthesiologists in the US.) A nurse anesthetist editor was very proud of his ability to prevent any documents from the ASA from being linked to on the page while maintaining a link to the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, and made it clear that it was his “turf” and that he was highly political. I did persist briefly to see what would happen: he tracked my real identity and threatened me. I immediately lost all interest.
I don’t believe Britannica is trying for neutrality per se. I believe it’s trying for objectivity, which is related but nonidentical. On many topics wikipedia attempts objectivity as well rather than neutrality (evolution vs intelligent design, for instance).