Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-02-23/In the news

In the news

Lessons for Brits, patent citations

Words of praise from David Mitchell

In an article published on guardian.co.uk, actor and comedian David Mitchell praised Wikipedia as being "brilliant." Mitchell defended Wikipedia against criticisms of inaccuracy, writing "readers should always question the veracity of what they read and the motives of whoever wrote it, and in the internet age more than ever.... And if Wikipedia, while being very informative in most cases, teaches a few lessons about questioning sources, then that's all to the good." Mitchell also criticized the UK Conservative Party for manipulating the Titian entry (see related story).

ZDNet UK interviews IWF chief Peter Robbins

ZDNet UK conducted an interview with IWF chief Peter Robbins in response to the Virgin Killer incident. Robbins discussed the purpose of the foundation, the technology issues related to the incident, and what he believed to be an "unfair level of criticism." Robbins concluded the interview with "We learnt lessons from this."

Wikipedia references in patents on the rise

According to The Patent Librarian's Notebook, a blog by librarian Michael White, citations to Wikipedia have been on the rise in U.S. patents. Wikipedia citations by patent examiners were banned in 2006, but references to Wikipedia by both applicants and examiners have nevertheless been on the rise. 477 patents issued in 2008 mentioned Wikipedia, compared to 297 in 2007 and 108 in 2006.