Many thanks to Michelle Garrett for hosting me on her “P.R. Explored” podcast earlier this week.
For more than an hour, we discussed everything from why Wikipedia is the indispensable source for A.I. to why Wikipedians scorn trade publications. I also shared five questions to ask a Wikipedia consultant and identified three media outlets that most people assume are reliable.
Here are the topics we covered:
Wikipedia is a paradox: Its official subtitle is the “encyclopedia that anyone can edit,” yet precious few know how do that. Indeed, so copious and cryptic are the encyclopedia’s rules that even if your intentions are pure, you’re bound to violate one of them.
So what’s the secret to success? In a word: Sourcing. Above all, Wikipedia editors focus on footnotes to determine what to include and what to exclude.
To that end, it behooves aspiring Wikipedians to learn the acronym “SIR.” “SIR” stands for “significant,” “independent,” and “reliable,” and it’s the hiding-in-plain-sight key to confirming that whatever article you want to cite is appropriate.
Wikipedia has a lot of rules. And if you don’t know them, you’ll have great difficulty adhering to them.
As a Wikipedia consultant, I encounter the following conflict every day: Everyone wants a Wikipedia page for themselves, their C.E.O., or their organization, yet few people know what it takes to create one.
Indeed, half my job consists of counseling clients on what’s possible and what’s not. In that spirit, I’ve written a six-part checklist for those considering a plunge into the wonderful but weird wikiworld.