Wikipedia! not as bad as professionals deem it to be ;)

In response to my project on one of the cold wars: The Korean War, I did an analysis on Wikipedia and it’s biases. After having done some research on the timeline as well as study the way different textbooks educate their people, Wikipedia was the way to go.

Not recommended?

In our school districts these days, most teachers recommend students to study from  various sites to ensure the accuracy of the information and to let students search a bit more around the web before relying on the all convenient wikipedia. This works very well as it helps with the student’s research abilities. Something else to look at are books, the most traditional way of finding information. Whether it’s digital books or hardcovers, we all trust it. To give it a rating, it is a good thing. We develop the skills to research but no Wikipedia is not bad, that would not quite be the reason educators do not recommend it.

Overcoming Biases

Not only is Wikipedia not bad, it is also generally non-bias. After looking at wikipedia and comparing the biases, I learned that there are very few in comparison to published books. *reference to previous post* The reason for that may be quite simple. If we look at how books are published, it is written by a few authors for a publisher. There on after, editors take the book and change the odd parts to meet their requirement. From here, they need help, and there comes the government. In order to release it into public settings they need the help of the higher ups and since the ones who are capable of manipulating the contents are very few, it is easier to do. This satisfies the world, the people, and the government. While textbooks take this course perfectly, they aren’t all bad, they state facts and leave some out, some say this would be propaganda, but the knowledge is what counts. Not all books are like this, many are to satisfy different points of view. This leads us to having many books to read through in order to get the big picture. It does us no harm and in reverse benefits us.

If you’re the type of person who doesn’t have much time, then ebooks and the internet is our best choice. Putting ebooks aside, there are many resources online in which we can use, some are made by individuals who wish to share their biases or facts and many are made by organizations. To collect all these together may take time but still, a fast, easy and great choice.

Wikipedia hurrah!

Now comes to the main topic, Wikipedia. You may think that it is an unreliable resource because of how much freedom everyone has in editing it but that is the actual reason as to why it is reliable. Having read through some more popular articles (Korean War), I’ve come to a conclusion that it is quite neutral in its opinions and facts. It states the facts straight out, if it doesn’t, someone will find it and correct it. Some of the examples here (from the Korean War article analyzed) include how a section on Japanese colonialization was included. In most Western textbooks, they avoid giving details on the details of how Korea was colony before the war which would indicate that that US, back then, was trying to take Korea away from another Country which would not be so different from the image they gave the communists. In addition to that, Wikipedia also gives a little part to the casualties during the war. This topic was also something that the rest of the world did not want their people to know. According to the textbook analysis article, only South Korea gave a comment on this. The tragic that went on behind the glory front.

Because it is an open source, anyone can correct it, having millions of people observing its articles each day, it has been proven to be a great editing strategy in comparison to the few professional editors. Why would people edit it? Self motivation and a sense of contribution has to be credited for that. Although I will not get into the psychological factors, the fact is, everyone overlooks wikipedia. Once one bias appears, someone else will take it off with another opinion. With its constant changes, a conclusion can be drawn that it is quite a neutrally opinionated data-base therefore, not a bad thing. Wikipedia, hurrah!

Korean War: Wordbuzz temp Wiki Bias

Wikipedia Korean War

Biases:

Japanese rule (1910–1945) –

The topic of Japanese rule was mainly glorified and emphasized in Japan’s point of view.

The communists, led by Kim Il-sung, fought the Japanese in Korea –

US bias: North Korea is usually labeled as a communist country and in a Japanese Bias, the country usually avoid colonial description

He established control by restoring to power the key Japanese colonial administrators and their Korean and police collaborators –

Chinese: Although China use to be a part of the Allies, it is made obvious that the force behind this was US therefore as opposing sides, it is more benificial to the leaders of Asia

U.S. troops withdrew from Korea in 1949,[52] leaving the South Korean army relatively ill-equipped. The Soviet Union left Korea in 1948. –

Korean/Japanese: Because US left both these countries in turmoil after WWII, it is more likely they would disclose this information which did not appear as often in other english references

His team delivered the intelligence to headquarters that invasion was imminent. Thirteen days later, the North Korean People’s Army (KPA) crossed the 38th parallel border and invaded South Korea. –

US: In here, it is described in the beginning that the escalation of war was in the fault of North Korea while the CIA officer is made to feel like a peace keeping protection agent

Under the guise of counter-attacking a South Korean provocation raid, the KPA crossed the 38th parallel, behind artillery fire, at Sunday dawn of 25 June 1950 –

South Korea: It is more likely for the one who is at odds with North Korea to use “under the guise of counter-attacking” to lower North Korea’s image. Why it possibly might not be US is because, Usually in this situation, they would point a finger towards Soviet Union, their real target

There were no large foreign military garrisons in Korea at invasion time, but there were large US garrisons and air forces in Japan.[39] –

Japan: An indication of US using Japan as key ground

President Truman announced that the US would counter “unprovoked aggression” and “vigorously support the effort of the [UN] security council to terminate this serious breach of peace.” –

China/Japan: Since these two nations were at odds with US with this issue, this passage is most likely used to emphasize US’s real goal behind this support of civil war within Korea

The Korean War: Comparing textbooks

For this post, I will be referring to and taking notes from this article.

It is a comparison on the contents of the Korean War from perspectives of different textbooks used around the world.

The American media: North Korea

• Quote: “North Korea, is the last Cold War frontier and remained an isolated nation from the rest of the world”
• 1993
• June 27, 2008 – North Korea blew up part of its Yongbyon nuclear plant – demonstrates commitment to halting its nuclear weapon programs
• Six-party talks – discussion between South Korea, Japan, China, Russia and USA to disarm North Korea because of its withdrawal from Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 2003
• Fall 2008 – North Korea restarts nuclear plant

Comparison Chart

EDIT

reference to original text

Bibliography

MLA Citation: Here I will be putting down my references and where I got my information from

The Great Depression

Websites

“A Photo Essay on the Great Depression.” Welcome to English. Feb. 2010 <http://www.english.illinois.edu/MAPS/depression/photoessay.htm>.

“The Great Depression and New Deal, 1929-1939.” IWS.CCCCD.EDU – Faculty Web site Directory. Mar. 2010 <http://iws.ccccd.edu/kwilkison/Online1302home/20th%20Century/DepressionNewDeal.html>.

“The Great Depression Timeline & Summary – Facts About the Great Depression.” Http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/. Iloveindia. Feb. 2010 <http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/the-great-depression-981.html>.

Online Data Bases

Smiley, Gene. “Great Depression.” Library of Economics and Liberty. Mar. 2010 <http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/GreatDepression.html>.

“Great Depression.” Wikipedia. Feb. 2010 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression>.

“List of Presidents of the United States.” Wikipedia. Feb. 2010 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States>.

Graphs

“Financial Graph & Art – The Recent History of Gold Wallchart.” Financial Graph & Art. Mar. 2010 <http://www.financialgraphart.com/fedchart.html>.