Wikipedia

I find wikipedia to be great for gaining a general overview of a topic. It is however a rather unrealiable source and therefore I cross-check everything I read in it to verify the accuracy of the information.

Our task today was to find two wikipedia articles that we knew something about and to check their accuracy on the topic. The first article I found was on the town of Coffs Harbour. This was a suprisingly detailed article for what I consider to be my small hometown. Having lived there most my life, I feel I know the place pretty well and therefore believe, having read this article it is an accurate source of information on Coffs Harbour. It covers a broad range of topics, from its location to its general popularity as a tourist spot. As such it also includes information on attractions, transport services and annual events, all of which I have experienced first hand. If I were to make any changes to this article, the first thing I would do would be to create a link to my high school's webpage, so that (Jetty high) it is fairly represented against the other schools listed in the area (that have links displayed in the article). I would also include more information as to the history of Coffs as a town. Another tourist attraction that has recently been renovated and re-opened is the Historical Museum, which has not been included in this article as an attraction, so I might include something on that. Having completed a history of coffs at school, I know that it does have an interesting history-including involvement in the second world war. Which leads me to think of another attraction which isn't listed in wikipedia's article, the bunker cartoon gallery (an interesting old bunker they converted into gallery, that regulary displays local artists work.) Basically, my point is that they could have been more detailed in the attractions section, as during the winter months there are other things to do apart from lie around on one of coffs many beaches. I also noted that it stated that coffs has a strong surfing culture which is true, but it also has a strong arts culture, which could have been included. Maybe also would have included info on night life and good restaurants in the area? But all in all, this article was an accurate and fairly detailed overview of Coffs Harbour. It was dealing with objective fact so therefore was a generally balanced article, and from the looks of it it followed the wikipedia guidelines for useful articles. The second article that I looked up was on the retail company Big W, for whom I used to work for, and completed a school based traineeship with based on in and outs of the company. And having read this article I believe it to also be an accurate and non-biased portrayal. It describes aspects such as their services and their foothold as a large australia wide company. From my general knowledge the history of the store is accurate as well. In conclusion both of the articles I researched were, to my own knowledge accurate and non-biased and generally a good overview and source of information on both topics.