05/05/2009

citation jarres

Story: Student (subject and level undefined) inserts fake information into Wikipedia and is thus, by searching on this information, able to see exactly which publications use Wikipedia as a primary, unverified, source.
The execution is commendable: a compelling but fairly plausible, inoffensive, quote inserted into the biography of a relatively low-profile, if obituary-worthy, composer - a prime target for frantic internet searching from same-day deadline journalists.

If the guy who did this (one Shane Fitzgerald) has a blog I can't find it. It would be interesting to see a list of major publictions that used the quote - I kinda feel like blogs don't count, and so far I've found The Guardian (who brought the story to public attention and so covered their backs slightly, and have since changed the original article) and The Independent (who haven't at all covered their tracks).

The guy emailed them all a month later to explain what he'd done, so I'm guessing other publications may have since done an edit. Or they didn't use the quote. Who knows. But this was a pretty good way of trying to find out.

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