Cookies help us display personalized product recommendations and ensure you have great shopping experience.

By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    sales and data analytics
    How Data Analytics Improves Lead Management and Sales Results
    9 Min Read
    data analytics and truck accident claims
    How Data Analytics Reduces Truck Accidents and Speeds Up Claims
    7 Min Read
    predictive analytics for interior designers
    Interior Designers Boost Profits with Predictive Analytics
    8 Min Read
    image fx (67)
    Improving LinkedIn Ad Strategies with Data Analytics
    9 Min Read
    big data and remote work
    Data Helps Speech-Language Pathologists Deliver Better Results
    6 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-25 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Free as in Copied from Wikipedia
Share
Notification
Font ResizerAa
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Uncategorized > Free as in Copied from Wikipedia
Uncategorized

Free as in Copied from Wikipedia

Daniel Tunkelang
Daniel Tunkelang
4 Min Read
SHARE

You have to love the irony: Waldo Jaquith of the Virgina Quarterly Review discovered that Free: The Future of a Radical Price, the latest book by Wired Editor-in-chief Chris Anderson, contains “almost a dozen passages that are reproduced nearly verbatim from uncredited sources”–and that was without access to an electronic copy of the book, so he suspects there may be more. Most (though not all) of the plagiarism is from Wikipedia.

Having recently written a book, I can attest to the temptation to copy and paste from Wikipedia, much as I was tempted to copy from the encyclopedia for essays in grade school. In fact, Wikipedia explicitly permits reuse of its content–but only with proper attribution and in conformance with Wikipedia’s Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License or the GNU Free Documentation License. Evidently the book will be available for free online, so perhaps Anderson is in time to clean up the text through appropriate citation. Still, as commenter MrInBetween pointed out on Gawker, “Can’t decide which is more embarrassing — failing to cite wikipedia as a source or using wikipedia as a source.” Perhaps …

You have to love the irony: Waldo Jaquith of the Virgina Quarterly Review discovered that Free: The Future of a Radical Price, the latest book by Wired Editor-in-chief Chris Anderson, contains “almost a dozen passages that are reproduced nearly verbatim from uncredited sources”–and that was without access to an electronic copy of the book, so he suspects there may be more. Most (though not all) of the plagiarism is from Wikipedia.

More Read

Business Side Guide: SMB Market Intelligence for the C-Suite
One on One with Content Management’s Movers and Shakers
You Build it, You Break It, You Fix It: Why Applications Must Be Responsible for Data Quality
Why Amazon and Apple Will Not Kill Each Other
DQ Alert: Easy Savings by Removing Dups

Having recently written a book, I can attest to the temptation to copy and paste from Wikipedia, much as I was tempted to copy from the encyclopedia for essays in grade school. In fact, Wikipedia explicitly permits reuse of its content–but only with proper attribution and in conformance with Wikipedia’s Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License or the GNU Free Documentation License. Evidently the book will be available for free online, so perhaps Anderson is in time to clean up the text through appropriate citation. Still, as commenter MrInBetween pointed out on Gawker, “Can’t decide which is more embarrassing — failing to cite wikipedia as a source or using wikipedia as a source.” Perhaps I’m old-school, but I feel that books should cite original sources, not encyclopedias.

In any case, the deeper irony is that the “radical” model Anderson advocates is at least partly responsible for encouraging an economy where it’s easier to profit from other people’s content than from your own. Splogs scrape legitimate blogs, copying their content in order to attract search traffic and generate ad revenue. Sites like the Huffington Post have pushed (or simply shredded) the envelope of fair use by excerpting others’ stories and employing SEO in order to leech their traffic. Radical or not, free can get pretty ugly.

It may not have been his intention, but Anderson has helped uncover a subtext of his advocacy: in a world where the only acceptable price for content is free, there’s a risk that respect for the value of content will correlate to its price.

Link to original post

Share This Article
Facebook Pinterest LinkedIn
Share

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

sales and data analytics
How Data Analytics Improves Lead Management and Sales Results
Analytics Big Data Exclusive
ai in marketing
How AI and Smart Platforms Improve Email Marketing
Artificial Intelligence Exclusive Marketing
AI Document Verification for Legal Firms: Importance & Top Tools
AI Document Verification for Legal Firms: Importance & Top Tools
Artificial Intelligence Exclusive
AI supply chain
AI Tools Are Strengthening Global Supply Chains
Artificial Intelligence Exclusive

Stay Connected

1.2kFollowersLike
33.7kFollowersFollow
222FollowersPin

You Might also Like

Leaders’ Perspectives on Big Data

5 Min Read
Image
Uncategorized

Lambda Complexity: Why Fast Data Needs New Thinking

25 Min Read
health apps use big data
Uncategorized

Big Data for Personal Use Is More Popular Than Ever

5 Min Read

Analogue Business with a Digital Facade

8 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

AI chatbots
AI Chatbots Can Help Retailers Convert Live Broadcast Viewers into Sales!
Chatbots
ai chatbot
The Art of Conversation: Enhancing Chatbots with Advanced AI Prompts
Chatbots

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-25 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?