Wikispooks:Wikipedia+
A short explanation of WP+ at [28C3], 2011-12-29
Wikipedia+ is a tool for Wikipedia users unhappy with only a single narrative. It is an open source browser extension to augment your Wikipedia experience. It notes where you're browsing and silently checks the alternative websites you have chosen to see if they contain relevant information. If so, Wikipedia+ pops up a notification containing links to the matching pages, so alternative points of view are only one click away.
Rationale
Wikipedia is in one sense a victim of its own success; it has effectively become a mainstream media source, and as such it shares a well-established bias:
To the extent that a subject is judged threatening to established power and the widespread acceptance of 'official narratives' of events, the reliability and ultimate accuracy of Wikipedia articles touching on it is likely to be compromised. At the extremes of power and perceived threat, Wikipedia's 'Neutral-Point-of-View' [1] principle pretty much guarantees that the compromise will be fundamental. (See The Problem with Wikipedia for a fuller discussion)
Wikipedia+ alleviates this situation by letting you choose sources of information for yourself with which to supplement your Wikipedia experience.
Technical Aspects
Wikipedia Plus currently requires Mozilla Firefox, version 3 or above.
- The latest version is available here.
- You can change which sites you're interested in, but Wikispooks is enabled by default
- When browsing Wikipedia, a notification bar will appear from time to time with links to Wikispooks or other sites of interest
