University of Iowa Researchers Develop Program To Check Wikipedia

By Alison Sullivan The Daily Iowan

UWIRE – University of Iowa researchers are developing tools to better detect inaccuracies on Wikipedia.
Though the website has a system that is able to weed out wrong information, the information has to be entered manually; the new automated system is able to catch smaller vandalism.
The system works by finding abnormal word or vocabulary patterns that are not located anywhere else in the specific article. After testing, researchers have found the statistical language model algorithm, as the system is called, to be the most effective out of the other tools currently in use.
Padmini Srinivasan, a UI professor of computer science, said the new system can detect both major and minor inaccuracies but is less successful in detecting link spam and wrong images.
The algorithm will also take note of patterns and similar changes in the future.
The UI researchers recently presented a paper in Raleigh, N.C., at the Fourth Workshop on Information Credibility on the Web.
Read more here: http://www.dailyiowan.com/2010/09/24/Metro/19011.html
Copyright 2010 The Daily Iowan
Posted Setember 24, 2010