Wikipedia VS Conservapedia...You make the Choice

There seems to be a rivalry brewing between supporters of World-wide favorite Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

and newer kid on the web Conservapedia.

http://www.conservapedia.com/Main_Page

Both sites are free, multilingual, web-based, on-line encyclopedia projects written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Articles can be constantly updated, and additions and corrections are welcomed as are additional links.

Wikipedia is the registered trademark of the non-profit Wikipedia foundation. To read what Wikipedia is (and is not) according to them see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About#About_Wikipedia

Formed as a class project in November 2006, for a group of advanced homeschooled students, Convervapedia claims to be "one of the largest and most reliable online sources of its kind." Here's their short story:

http://www.conservapedia.com/Differences_with_Wikipedia
http://www.conservapedia.com/Rules


Although touted as world-wide collaborative projects Wikipedia and Conservapedia seem to have organized two distinct, and not necessarily accepting or respectful philosophical camps. Wikipedia claims Conservapedia's goal is to construct a pro-American, socially conservative encyclopedia that is supportive of (biased toward) conservative Christianity, while Conservapedia claims Wikipedia is increasingly anti-Christian and anti-American. They claim bias exists in Wikipedia due to contributions and editing by " liberal athiests who lack basic understanding of logic." Rutland Herald Sunday, March 18, 2007. This doesn't sound very collaborative to me.

So where does this leave us as users and dispensers of information? I guess it all goes back to good old Information Literacy Standard number 2: The student who is information literate evaluates information critically and completely.

Indicator 1. Determining accuracy, relevance, and comprehensiveness
Indicator 2. Distinguishes among fact, point of view, and opinion
Indicator 3. Identifies accurate and misleading information, and
Indicator 4. Selects information appropriate to the problem or question at hand.

Sounds like job security to me.