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5 Wikipedia Games You Can Try Your Hand On

Saikat Basu — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:00:03 +0000

Wikipedia will continue to get knocked down for credibility and accuracy but it is the best open source project we know of. And one we still depend on for a quick reference. Wikipedia is the last place you would expect to play a few serious games, but dig deep and a few intrepid web applications have been built around the knowledge rich online encyclopedia.

Wikipedia games just give you another way to kill a few of those dull hours and gain a bit of grey matter in the process. We checked out one Wikipedia game when we were looking at 10 Websites That Make Browsing Wikipedia More Fun.

The Wiki Game gets you a double dose of fun and knowledge exploration. You can head over to this game, and then try out a few more of its ilk.

Catfishing

Catfishing is a very simple game that has existed online since 2006. I am not sure if the game has been updated or not, but as with all knowledge games, it’s still worth a play. Catfishing is a guessing game built upon clues taken from Wikipedia articles. You are given a set of clues and you must think aloud the subject or the article the clues are common to. There’s a scoring system in place, and yes – you do get deducted for wrong answers. You can play the game solo too but it requires uncommon honesty.

wikiAata

wikiAata is a puzzle and a guessing game rolled into one. Gameplay is based on simple rules – you are given a view of a starting Wikipedia article and an ending article. Your job is to go from the first to the last article using the hyperlinks in the articles. You have to reach the ultimate article using only the specified number of clicks allowed for the puzzle. You can use the tabs in the game to move back or view the ending article. You have to sign-in with your Google account. The points system is based on the time you take to finish the puzzle. Test your knowledge and put yourself on the leaderboard.

Wikipedia Maze

Wikimedia Maze is quite similar to the above mentioned Wikipedia game. It’s also a “Cancer” to “McDonald’s” kind of follow-link and get a few points game. On the face of it, Wikipedia Maze is a better designed or at least a better looking game than wikiAata. A few differences exist: You can choose Themes which are like game categories. You can create your own puzzles, and also earn badges for extra achievements on the site.

WikiTrivia

Pick a category and the trivia game based on Wikipedia starts throwing trivia questions at you. You have to continue with the trivia game by answering the questions correctly or incorrectly.

WikiGuess

WikiGuess is a Google Android game and a free download from the Android Market. The app displays a real Wikipedia article and you have to guess what the article is all about. You have a photo taken from the article and a few keywords as clues to help you solve the Wikipedia puzzle. We have mentioned WikiGuess in our Directory.

When it comes to knowledge games, Wikipedia fits in nicely. Of course, it might not be the thing for all age groups, but if you have a smidgen of interest in the world around you, Wikipedia and the games it has spawned is a nice start. Tell us how you find these games based on Wikipedia.

5 Interesting But Useful Ways Of Using Wikipedia For Information Junkies

Saikat Basu — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 20:00:59 +0000

Wikipedia has put knowledge at our fingertips. Granted that we can scour the web and pick up usable information using a search engine, but Wikipedia’s value lies in the fact that it has collated, organized, and condensed it all for us. Or nearly all, because human knowledge is vast and I think Wikipedians aren’t out of their jobs just yet.

There are many ways to look at and browse through Wikipedia. From browser extensions and plugins to web apps that make browsing Wikipedia more than a scholarly exercise. The vast bank of human knowledge stored within Wikipedia pages also makes for some interesting uses – some which you might not even consider seriously. But checking out these five useful ways of using Wikipedia could be worth your reading time.

Search Wikipedia for “Experts”

It is safe to assume that Wikipedia contributors or Wikipedians know what they are talking, or rather writing about. You can pick any topic and search for a “subject matter expert” you can contact. Let’s say I am searching some information on ‘Arteriolosclerosis’. Clicking on the View History link takes you to the page where revisions from Wikipedians who contributed to the page are listed. Click on the user name to learn more about the contributor, and then click on Talk to leave him a message.

But remember that Wikipedia should be just a starting place for your research and not the end point. The Golden Rule still applies: Don’t believe everything you read on the web. If you are looking for sensitive information, especially related to health and medicine, Wikipedia “facts’ should be corroborated by professional opinion and hard facts.

Get the Bigger Picture with Wikipedia Statistics

As the page itself says, it’s almost impossible for a human to grab all of Wikipedia. So, the statistics page was conjured up to give a bird’s eye view of what’s happening within the boiler rooms of this online encyclopedia. For instance, Wikitrends tells you at a glance what’s trending on Wikipedia. Uptrends and downtrends are available across languages and time spans. Reading the top stories could help you connect the dots as to why the stories are gaining popularity.

Wikipedia as a Foreign Language Dictionary

I came across this old article (dated 2009) which explains how you can use Wikipedia for language translations. You can take advantage of the Wikipedia language sidebar to go to the foreign language specific page and get the equivalent word or term. Of course, it might be a synonym and not an exact translation, but even then Wikipedia and its multi-lingual versions offer an offbeat language learning tool.

Wikipedia as a Time Capsule

Did you know that Wikipedia has a Timeline of the far future? This timeline among all the other timelines that are listed in Wikipedia covers events from just about eight thousand years from now to the farthest edges of future time. It is based on scientific predictions, astrophysics, and plate-tectonics among other things. The List of Centuries breaks down each millennia and century (from 4rth Century BC to 40^th Century AD), into its major events – social, political, and technological. You can literally track time using the vast storehouse of information on Wikipedia.

Wikipedia for A Few Laughs

Everything’s not serious about Wikipedia. Wikipedia has a page devoted to deleted articles with freaky titles; because, as the page so eloquently puts it – Wikipedians too loose their minds occasionally. It’s a real pity that the articles stand deleted and only the titles remain. Topics like “Butt munchers” and “Dog Fart Neutralizing Thong” would have made for an interesting read.

In some quarters, Wikipedia may not be taken as a credible source. But as a jumping off point for further exploration, it more than serves its purpose. We have taken a close look at Wikipedia over the years. Have we missed some tip, some unique way to use Wikipedia more effectively? Give us your take if you use it in an interesting way.

Wikihood Puts Wikipedia On The Map By Connecting Articles To Places

Justin Pot — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 16:31:09 +0000

Find notable places to visit, anywhere on earth. Wikihood combines Wikipedia and Google Maps, resulting in a surprisingly interesting way to find out what cool things are near a given town or GPS coordinate. Wikipedia has an article on practically everything, so it makes sense to arrange it in many different ways. Wikihood arranges everything on a Google Map, allowing you to explore Wikipedia in a new way.

Ideas like this seem simple, but can help you stumble upon things you’ve never heard of before. Whether you want to explore your home town or check out what’s worth seeing during an upcoming trip, Wikihood is a cool tool for exploring.

Exploring

Fire up Wikihood’s web version and you’ll see a two-paneled site:

The left panel is a list of Wikipedia articles; the right panel is a Google Map with arrows that point out the location of article subjects. Hover over a map point, or an article, and you’ll see what is where.

Click on an article and you’ll be shown other relevant topics. For example, clicking on Canada brings up a list of famous Canadians:

You can switch from “People” to “Culture” to see a different list. The real fun, though, is browsing your immediate area. Click the “Locate Me” button in the top-left and Wikihood will figure out where you are. It will then present a series of articles from your local area:

You’ll notice this to be a great list of all the notable buildings and destinations near your house. This can be a quick way to find something to do, and you might even find something you’ve never heard of before. In cases like this, you can pull up the Wikipedia article on a given subject by clicking the “article” button:

This is a great way to find out what a given location is all about, and whether you might want to visit it.

Planning a Trip

This isn’t just great for discovering local destinations and history; it can also be a great way to find things worth visiting for an upcoming vacation. Just type the city or country you plan on exploring soon and you’ll see many relevant things pointed out.

Click and drag to explore; you never know what you might find or what you might learn about places you’re heading to.

Apps, Apps, Apps

It’s the age of apps, so naturally you’re going to want to install one for Wikihood. You can get one from the Chrome Web Store, if you want. It basically serves as a bookmark to the website, but go ahead and install it here.

If you’re more of an iPhone person you’re in luck, though sadly the Wikihood app for the iPhone is not free. Still, it might be worth checking out. An Android app is upcoming.

Remixes

Wikihood doesn’t add any new content to the web; it just combines two services. Put Google Maps and Wikipedia together and you’ve got yourself a new way to look at these bits of information.

I love how remixing can create something new, but I want to know what you think. Is this a cool idea, or can you not think of a use for such a thing? Let me know in the comments below, because we love hearing from you.

10 Fun & Useful Chrome Extensions For Your Wikipedia Browsing

Saikat Basu — Wed, 25 May 2011 15:31:06 +0000

Even as the battle rages on between Chrome extensions and Firefox add-ons, it is we users who are coming out on top. There’s the sheer variety to choose from. Let’s take Wikipedia for instance. The online encyclopedia has managed to maintain its top-dog status when it comes to quick access (and free) source of valuable information. I can take any keyword and dive into Wikipedia’s rich cache of knowledge and not come up for air.

Just so that my deep diving into Wikipedia remains a fun and educational experience, a bounty of Chrome extensions is a must-have for my browser. Nancy started me of with her post on The 7 Coolest Wikipedia Plugins for Your Browser. Why stop there when the Chrome Web Store beckons with so many more choices to make my Wikipedia browsing more fun.

Wikipedia Companion – Mini Wiki Browser

As the name says, it is like a mini-browser for Wikipedia. Just like a browser it brings one touch access to your search and history as you trawl through Wikipedia. It makes Wikipedia lookups easier with a few optional controls. For each page of information, you can show-hide the sections in the article. You can set language options for the mini-browser, change font size, and set the extension to open a featured page on Wikipedia. You browsed pages remain in history till you clear them.

Wikipedia Smart Links

While reading Wikipedia, a linked term usually takes us away from the original page we were reading. Sometimes we don’t come back at all. Solve that with Wikipedia Smart Links that popups up a selection of any article linked from within it when you hover over the link with your mouse. You can also use Wikipedia Quick Hints for the same purpose.

Wikipedia Image Preview

Wikimedia Commons or the other copyrighted images are a treasure trove. Sure you can get them with a search or a click on the image thumbnail itself. This Chrome extension makes it simpler to view by giving you a full-size preview of an image in a lightbox, which loads right in the same page while fading the background. The Wikipedia Reader extension brings the same functionality and also gives you a dekko at the reference link box with a mouseover.

Wikipedia – Most Popular Articles

This is a simple extension that displays the most popular articles of the day. Oh yes, you also get pages like “404 error” and “Main Page”. That’s evened off by topical pages like Dominique Strauss-Kahn and McDonald’s monopoly.

Beautipedia Modified, Chromified

Restyle the way you read Wikipedia with a distraction free neater interface. You can use the menu on right-top to browse to a random page, Some of the other features like Talk and Edit weren’t returning the desired results though.

Ubuki

If you want to give your Wikipedia reading experience another little tweak, install this Chrome extension that does a simple thing – it duplicates the Ubuntu font on your Wikipedia pages and changes the default look and feel by a smidgen.

LikeAWiki

This simple Chrome extension socializes Wikipedia by adding a Facebook Like button to each article in Wikipedia , Wikimedia, Wikiquote , and other Wikimedia-Foundation sites.

Wikiminute

This Chrome extension for Wikipedia hasn’t seen a download yet, but I think it could be really useful if you are deep into Wikipedia research and need to quickly scan a Wikipedia page to see keywords that fall into it. The extension lists up anchored words in the sentences of Wikipedia articles. You can then lookup the important parts first by looking at the words that have their own articles. Then, you can click through to a word or topic that interests you. It seemed slightly buggy as I had to click the extension twice to get the word list.

Wikipedia + Ngram

Admittedly this extension won’t be of much use to us normal folks, but if you use Wikipedia for research you can use Google’s Ngram Viewer straightaway to graphically see the popularity of a given word over the years. The info page on Google’s Ngram also has this link which shows its utility as a research tool.

Wikipedia Progress Tracker

This post started out as one meant for the Wikipedia hound. So, in the end, it’s essential to just take a look at how much of Wikipedia’s terrain one has conquered. The extension tracks your total reading and displays it as a percentage (in scientific notation). You have to be logged in to allow the extension to retrieve your Wikipedia browsing stats.

From faster navigation to better reading, we have seen the utility of Chrome extensions. Why shouldn’t you utilize them for enhancing your Wikipedia visits? Let us know about your favorite Chrome extensions…for Wikipedia browsing or otherwise.

4 Sites That Let You Create Your Own Wikipedia-Like Website

Steve Campbell — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 15:31:10 +0000

“A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor.” That’s the definition provided by Wikipedia, the most popular wiki on the Internet.

Wikis serve as collaborative sites and can be very useful if you operate a community or are part of a group of any kind. Wikis bring people with common interests together, and can be centered around anything from movies and video games to recipes and studying. With the right software, anyone can build a site like Wikipedia.

In this article, I am going to show you a few sites that you can use to build your very own Wikipedia-like website. Whether you are looking to join a wiki or build one of your own, you should be able to find what you’re looking for using the resources found here.

MediaWiki

MediaWiki, which we covered previously in the directory, is the best way to go about creating a Wikipedia-like collaboration environment. It is a free software wiki package written in PHP, and utilized by several projects and collaborations.

MediaWiki can accommodate any number of users, from the one-man team to upwards of a few hundred people or more. It has dozens of extensions you can install, configurations like file uploading and skinning, and it can be installed on any hosting provider.

[Note]: Depending on your hosting provider, you might already have MediaWiki functionality built-in and ready to install. Check with your host or find out by searching around on your CPanel.

You can find hundreds of examples of companies utilizing MediaWiki here. Note that I have only point to the English section.

As Daniel pointed out a few years ago, MediaWiki is pretty simple to install. Just download the software, upload it to your server, and configure the application to meet your needs.

Wikia

If you don’t pay for hosting, have your own web server, or are just looking for something a little simpler, Wikia might be for you. As Saikat pointed out in an article last year, Wikia is a wiki farm, meaning that essentially it is a website made up of tons of different wikis.

Here is an example of a Call of Duty wiki that was created with Wikia. You can browse the various types of wikis you can join and create right from the home page.

Whether you’re looking to join one community or several, Wikia will grant you access to them all with a single username and password. If, for some reason, you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can create your own.

Additional Resources

By now you should be in wiki-Heaven. However, if you think the list of suitable wikis stops there you are wrong my friend. If you are looking for something more, you might try Wikispaces or Wikidot. They offer premium features at a price but they both also have a pretty decent free option.

Wikispaces

With a free, basic plan on Wikispaces, you can build one individual wiki (per account) with unlimited users and unlimited pages and messages. You are allocated 2GB of file storage and will have access to all the standard features, including the WYSIWYG editor, image and file upload, simple page linking, widgets, and easy setup.

Wikidot

A free account on Wikidot gets you 5 sites, 300MB of storage on each, unlimited number of pages, custom CSS themes, simple backups, custom domain mapping, and advanced membership roles and permissions. They even have a sandbox that lets you “experiment without consequences”.

If you are not looking for an online wiki and would rather have something smaller/desktop capable, check out Justin’s article on Zim.

For every other piece of wiki software known to man, explore Wikipedia’s massive list of wiki software.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are many different ways to create a Wikipedia-like website. Based on your current needs, one of the resources mentioned may better suit you than the others, so it’s important that you do your homework. You can start by joining a few wikis that interest you. If you take part in these online communities, you will begin to realize what you need to do to create an effective one of your own.

What would you need a Wikipedia-like website for? Will you be using any of these resources to create a wiki of your own?

Please leave your thoughts, ideas, and comments below. Also, if you found this article useful, try sharing it with the social media buttons below!

Download & Install Wikipedia To Your iPod With Encyclopodia

Steve Campbell — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:31:22 +0000

Wikipedia is one of the most useful sites in existence when it comes to finding out information. It is easy to read, constantly updated, and increasingly impressive in its efficiency. One of the things that makes Wikipedia enjoyable is its portability.

As Nancy pointed out in her article The 7 Coolest Wikipedia Plugins for Your Browser, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Internet Explorer users can benefit from the handiness of Wikipedia’s portability. You can also find Wikipedia on newer phones and the iPod Touch, but what about older generations of the iPod? Well, there’s an easy solution for that as well.

In this article, I am going to show you how to install Wikipedia on your iPod using an open source program called Encyclopodia. While I am only going to cover the Windows installation, you can do this on Mac and Linux as well.

Encyclopodia – The Encyclopedia On Your iPod

Encyclopodia is a free software project that brings Wikipedia to the Apple iPod. Encyclopodia can be installed on iPod genarations one to four, as well as on iPod Minis and Photo iPods.

Taking Wikipedia offline is nothing new here. We covered 4 Free Tools to Download and Take Wikipedia Offline back in 2008. Encyclopedia was made possible by the developers of the iPodLinux Project, which Mark originally covered way back in December of 2007.

Now that you know what we’re dealing with, let’s get to the fun part.

Installation [Windows]

For Windows users, the first step is to download the installation wizard. Once downloaded, connect your iPod to your PC via USB cable and start iTunes. At the bottom of your iTunes window, you will want to click on the player options button, as seen here:

In the options panel, you want to make sure Enable disk use is checked. Once you’ve done that, close iTunes.

Then, unpack the Encyclopodia installation wizard you downloaded and run the “encyclopodia-setup.exe” file.

[Note]: If you get an error saying that a device is not ready, click on “Retry”. The wizard tries to access some ports while searching for the iPod.

Follow the instructions on the installation wizard until it says that the installation is complete. Eject and disconnect your iPod.

Did it work?

You can test the Encyclopodia system by following these steps:

If you have a 1st, 2nd or 3rd generation iPod:

Switch on your iPod
Hold down the menu and the play button for 5 seconds

If you have a 4th generation iPod or an iPod mini:

Switch on your iPod
Hold down the menu and the select button for 5 seconds

In either case, holding down the buttons will cause the iPod to reboot. While the iPod boots, hold down the rewind button (unless you have told the installation wizard to make Encyclopodia the default system).

If everything appears to be working, go to the ebook library, download some .epodia-Files, and copy the files into the following directory on the harddrive of your iPod: “G:\data\encyclopodia\library\” (where “G:” is the harddrive of your iPod; it might have a different letter on your computer).

[Note]: Installing Encyclopodia on Mac or Linux is a little more difficult, but it is doable. The problem is the absence of a setup wizard, but you can find installation instructions here.

Conclusion

In conclusion, you don’t need to feel left out if you don’t have a fancy new-gen iPod because you can still access Wikipedia from it. Will you be installing Wikipedia on your old iPod? Are there any other cool iPod tricks or hacks you would like to share?

Please leave your thoughts, ideas, and comments below.

The 7 Coolest Wikipedia Plugins for Your Browser

Nancy Messieh — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 11:51:47 +0000

Wikipedia is one of the foremost sources of information online and there is no limit to how the site can be used for both research and for contributing information. Regardless of what your browser of choice is, you’re bound to find a plugin that will enhance your Wikipedia experience, making it easier to search through the website’s endless wealth of information.

Firefox users can benefit from a Wikipedia toolbar that gives you complete control over your Wikipedia editing and searching needs. Chrome, Safari and Internet Explorer users can all benefit from plugins that allow you to perform Wikipedia searches from any website you happen to be browsing. Take a look at the following list for the best in Wikipedia plugins for Firefox, Chrome, Safari and IE.

Firefox

Wikipedia Toolbar

The first obvious choice for a Wikipedia plugin is the Wikipedia Toolbar. The toolbar gives you easy access to performing searches directly on Wikipedia, and if you have an account, gives you access to every aspect of your interaction with the website itself.

From the toolbar, you can look up random entries, add and remove specific entries to your watch list, access that list, and edit pages on Wikipedia. You also have quick access to the What Links Here page, and can navigate to your own user page.

QuickWiki

If you want an easy way to look up words directly from the website you are browsing, QuickWiki is the perfect plugin to enhance your browsing experience. Highlighting any given word and right-clicking will bring up a menu which allows you to look it up in Wikipedia or Wiktionary. There are two ways the search results can be displayed, either in a window overlaying your current page, or you can open the results in a new tab.

Alternatively, you can configure QuickWiki to work with specific shortcuts to pull up your results at the click of a button.

If you want to perform a quick search, the shortcut, Shift + Space will bring up a small search bar overlaying your current window.

QuickWiki’s additional features include support for English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese and the ability to adjust the appearance of the overlaying window. For an indepth review of QuickWiki, check out Saikat’s post.

Googlepedia

Googlepedia integrates Wikipedia search directly into Google dividing your search page into two columns. The first column contains the original google results, while in the second, the relevant Wikipedia article is displayed. Googlepedia does have its shortcomings. If you do a search directly from within Google, sometimes Googlepedia’s search results will not be displayed. On the other hand, if you do the search from Firefox’s inbuilt search bar at the top of the page – the results are always displayed. Googlepedia is currently being ported to other browsers and is already available for Chrome.

Chrome

Wikipedia Companion

Chrome users will appreciate the Wikiepdia Companion which gives them easy access to search and browse articles on Wikipedia from the extensions menu.

All results are displayed in a small window overlaying the browser.

Wikipedia Companion doesn’t come with many bells and whistles. It simply serves as a mini browser that is handy for people who tend to look up a lot of information on Wikipedia. If you would prefer to have easy access to a search bar that opens up search results in a new tab, then Wikipedia Search will be sufficient for your purposes.

Wiki-It

Safari users can install Wiki-It, which can be best described as a simplified version of QuickWiki. Installing the extension allows you to right click any given word as you are browsing, and it will add an option to the menu to look up that word on Wikipedia. Search results are opened in a new tab on the Wikipedia website.

You can also choose to open the search results in a new window, in the current tab, or in a new tab in the background.

In order to install Wiki-It, make sure you’ve updated to Safari 5, and take a look at Jeffry’s article on how to enable extensions.

Internet Explorer

Define with Wikipedia

Internet Explorer users can also add a quick link to look up words in Wikipedia using the right click menu when highlighting a word. Using Define with Wikipedia allows you to do just that, with search results opened in a new tab on the Wikipedia website.

Wikipedia Visual Search

Wikipedia Visual Search adds Wikipedia to the search engines included in IE’s inbuilt search bar. If you enter a search term and press Enter, it will take you directly to the related Wikipedia page. On the other hand, if you enter the search term and do not press Enter, it will display a list of suggested pages from Wikipedia, with thumbnails where applicable.

What are your favourite Wikipedia browser addons? Let us know in the comments.

7 Ways To Use Wikipedia As A Search Tool For Movies & Movie Tidbits

Saikat Basu — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:31:49 +0000

The two things that make Wikipedia great can be summed up by the two words under its logo ““ Free Encyclopedia. The latter word stands for something that deals with the entire range of human knowledge. That for me covers movies, music, and anything that’s close to entertainment.

Wikipedia as a film guide got a brief mention in on the Internet Guide to The Movie Addict. For day to day movie information lookups, it deserves a lot more.

Do a Google search for a film and Wikipedia crops up just below IMDB.com in the top tier of results. It’s not only an encyclopedic reference point for films and movies but also a launching pad for a lot more.

If you have the patience, Wikipedia links can take you into new waters. A Wikipedia search for movies can serve as a compass for film buffs, or you can just lose yourself and discover films that you never knew before. Let’s do both and discover the ways to use Wikipedia for movies and films.

Search For A Movie

Start with a Google search for a movie. Let’s say, I want everything a search can give me for “˜The Lord of The Rings’, one of my absolute favorites. Clicking on the Wikipedia link in the search results, I land up on the Lord of The Rings page. Being a trilogy, there is one for that and then there are separate entries for the three parts.

If I really didn’t understand the film (Sean Connery didn’t understand the story and Patrick Stewart disliked the script), the Plot is a refresher. Though, if you haven’t seen the film, this section could be a spoiler.

In the case of a film like LOTR and fantasy films of its ilk, you would find out where those beautiful panoramic scenes were shot. Wikipedia usually mentions the filming locations too.

If there’s a book behind the movie like there is for a lot of movies these days, you can check out sections like Comparison with the source material.

Search For The Cast & Other Movies They Have Done

Here’s where I start discovering new movies. Following the cast links, I can see their complete body of work (Filmography) and the ones that are in production. For instance, Viggo Mortensen went unnoticed in a small but powerful role in ‘Carlito’s Way’ with Al Pacino.

I might check it out at the rental store or on the net again. Similarly, you can tell from a work that the director is good or great. The links to his other works are just a click away.

Search For Soundtracks

Searching for the score that you liked? Check it under the Soundtrack heading. Some of the tracks have their own Wikipedia pages with more details.

Search For Celebrity Chit Chat

The information on Wikipedia is supported by external references and links. You can get the complete dope on those from the References and External Links sections at the end. Some of the good ones are the interview links or their personal star pages.

Search In The Categories

For all Wikipedia entries you will find the Categories under which the page is included mentioned near the foot. The ones for the films are a treasure trove for information. Here’s the Categories snapshot taken from Wikipedia’s page on “˜The Dark Knight’.

For instance, clicking on American action films takes me to an alphabetical list of movies and other sub categories. The list may not be complete, but you can find a lot of good stuff there. You can keep on following the links endlesslesly.

Search Through The Lists

Are you a fan of sci-fi films? Follow the list of science fiction films arranged by decade. Then there are the related lists you can jump to from their like the list of films considered to be the greatest ever. There are all sorts of lists on Wikipedia.

Search Through The Wikipedia Portal On Films

Featured content on Wikipedia comes in various forms, from articles, lists, topics, and portals. Films and movies have a portal for themselves. The Wikipedia film portal is an umbrella page for articles, biographies, news, lists, and sundry other content. Some of the best showtime content on Wikipedia can be got to from here.

Then as you scroll down, you can check out the sub -portals too that are specific pages built around a topic.

The above seven points are just a steering guide on how you can conduct a movie Wikipedia search. It’s a jungle of links, so the trick is to take a single thread (like the actor you are a fan of) and follow it instead of getting sidetracked by any link that comes up.

Right now I have a notepad full of film titles that I have yet to see. Make your own wishlist of films from Wikipedia and let us know how useful you find your Wikipedia search for that movie.

Showdown: The Wikipedia Dictionary (Wiktionary) vs Urban Dictionary

Steve Campbell — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 23:30:01 +0000

Those of us who spend a lot of time online have a slightly different vocabulary than the rest of the world. We use words like blog, webinar, and meme on a daily basis (and actually know what they mean). There is no need to use a standard dictionary because a lot of the definitions we’re looking for simply won’t be there.

As usual, there’s a simple solution for this. There happens to be two great dictionaries online and they’re both wikis (another Internet word). If you aren’t aware, a wiki is a collaborative website which can be directly edited using only a web browser, often by anyone with access to it. But, why would there be two?

In this article, I’m going to cover the Wikipedia Dictionary and Urban Dictionary. I’ll discuss the pros and cons of each and offer a comparison of the two. You’ll soon see just how different two collaborative websites can become.

Wiktionary – The Wikipedia Dictionary

Wiktionary is an online dictionary similar to the very popular Wikipedia encyclopedia. In fact, it is one of the 8 Sister Wikis from Wikipedia We Should Be Aware About. Wiktionary is home to hundred of thousands of articles/entries and is completely editable by the online community. Entries can be viewed in dozens of different languages.

What makes the Wikipedia Dictionary – or Wiktionary (and Wikipedia for that matter) – so unique is how precise it is. You would think that a website in which anyone could alter content would be pretty crazy and entertaining at best, but that isn’t the case here.

Wiktionary, part of Wikimedia, has a strong-willed core group of users known as Wikipedians monitoring the site at all times. These are volunteers that willingly monitor the site to ensure its integrity. Anytime a page is altered with slanderous or inaccurate material it is immediately fixed within seconds or minutes.

With the Wikipedia Dictionary, you can find a definition for most any Internet terminology and slang in Wiktionary, but it isn’t necessarily for that purpose. Definitions are very precise and the appearance of the site is that of an ordinary dictionary. Being able to alter it on-the-fly, however, keeps it up-do-date and extremely accurate.

Urban Dictionary

“Urban Dictionary is the dictionary you wrote.” It is similar to Wiktionary in that it can technically be edited by anyone, but it has one colossal difference.

Urban Dictionary isn’t monitored for accuracy or vulgarity by anyone, at least it seems. In fact, a lot of the content on Urban Dictionary is NSFW (not safe for work). I call it the Freedom of Speech Dictionary.

What’s great about the site is how amazingly accurate it still is. Any word, slang, or term you could think of is probably there, and if it isn’t you’re free to add a definition yourself.

The site gives its viewers the opportunity to vote definitions up or down, which helps the most useful/helpful definitions rise to the top. You can have a lot of fun while viewing Urban Dictionary but still find what you’re looking for.

Looking to start a new saying or meme? Add it to Urban Dictionary.

Wiktionary vs. Urban Dictionary

While both sites generally serve the same purpose, it is amazing how different their governance is.

The Wikipedia Dictionary is popular because it is a credible source and the information is kept neat and accurate. Urban Dictionary is popular because its words/phrases are creatively put together and managed by the community only in the form of votes.

Do both systems work even though they’re different? Yes, they each serve a purpose and should be used as such.

You can find the definition of almost any word or phrase in existence by using these sites in conjunction with one another. They are a reflection of Internet culture and collaborative tools whose reach cannot be measured.

What do you think of the Wikipedia Dictionary and the Urban Dictionary? Can they even really be compared to one another? Hit me with your thoughts and ideas in the comment section below!

10 Websites That Make Browsing Wikipedia More Fun

Saikat Basu — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 17:31:51 +0000

This article covers several useful and powerful Wikipedia search engines. Put in a search with a keyword into a regular search engine and there’s a high chance a reference from Wikipedia will pop up at the head of the results. Wikipedia has become a virtual “˜Encyclopedia Britannica’ for a lot of us. I would rate Wikipedia as one of the best examples of social co-operation that you will ever get to see.

Wikipedia is social web at its finest and freest. As Wikipedia co-founder and promoter Jimmy Wales had said long back ““

“Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That’s what we’re doing.”

Wikipedia is also being increasingly used and cited by schools, colleges and scholars. So, let me also ask you here ““ how do you use Wikipedia? Not for what, but how exactly do you browse through it?

The answer is relevant because there are lots of different Wikipedia search engines you can use to tap into the world’s largest encyclopedia. And in lots of ways, it’s more interesting than going to it directly and searching for the information you want.

Wikipedia at 15,000,000 articles in more than 270 languages is an ocean of information. Just like there are different ways to catch a fish, there are also different ways to angle for the information that’s there.

Throw a line in Wikipedia with these ten websites and see if they make browsing Wikipedia more fun, easy or just different.

WikiMindMap

If you are familiar with mindmaps, you will know that they are useful for getting a helicopter view of any topic, especially if it’s a complex one. Some articles in Wikipedia are just that intensive. WikiMindMap brings the diagrammatic relationship of mindmap to Wiki content.

The central topic is in the center and directly related topics linked around it on the first level. Clicking on the text takes you to the Wikipedia entry. Clicking on the green arrows brings you to the next level. There are also links which take you to external resources.

VisWiki

We have covered it earlier when it went by the name of VisualEncyclopedia. Since then, they have added more categories. But the same visually intuitive way to browse and read Wikipedia information has remained. It also has the Wikipedia content followed by a “˜related to’ mindmap diagram. What you might like about VisWiki are the direct links to relevant YouTube, Flickr, Google Maps etc straight from the Wikipedia content you are reading.

Video on Wikipedia

Getting video on Wikipedia can only make it more complete. Wikipedia based Navify was about video links and comments. When I checked, the site seemed to be down. So, that’s why I went on to Video on Wikipedia which is trying to advance the cause of getting videos on Wikipedia. The submissions are forwarded to Wikipedia. All this goes to show that as promised, we will see a lot more articles loaded with videos.

Qwika

Qwika is a Wikipedia search engine straight up. But it not only searches Wikipedia but also other wikis. The homepage says that it searches 21,964,380 articles in 1,158 wikis. Qwika also searches wikis across 12 languages which you can select from the dropdown. The search results from other language wikis are translated to the language chosen in the dropdown. There’s also a Qwika toolbar for Firefox and IE.

Clusty Wikipedia

Clusty is a Wikipedia search engine that groups search results into clusters after it does its meta-search. Clusters helps to organize thousands of search results into more organized groups or topics. Clusty also searches through Wikipedia. You can check out the clusters on the left side of the page. You can expand the clusters by clicking on the little red icon. Clicking on Remix reveals the other submerges topics.

Searching for more search engines? Read 4 Search Engines to Search Wikipedia the Pro Way

Simple English Wikipedia

Simple English Wikipedia is a good resource for less intensive searches. Children, non-English speakers, adults with learning difficulties, and first timers to Wikipedia can give this simpler version of Wikipedia a read. Though the total number of content (59,566) is less than the standard version, the easier uncomplicated usage of words makes it a great introductory tool.

Ten Word Wiki

If you are searching for a Wikipedia app that’s even simpler, go to Tenwordwiki.com. This site helps you to find our facts and meanings in scraps that aren’t lengthier than ten words. You can think of it as the Twitter equivalent of Wikipedia. Tenwordwiki.com shows you that sometimes briefness can also be the soul of information. Sometimes with a pinch of humor.

Here’s a brief description that’s a bit longer than ten words.

Okawix

We have covered this previously, but just to remind you ““ Okawix is a great starting point to download the whole content of Wikipedia, with or without images, so that you can browse it offline. You can download it for Windows, Mac and Linux. You can also choose to go the torrent way. Okawix lets you choose the language among the 253 it supports. The great thing is that you can not only download the 6GB of Wikipedia but also bundle it with its sister sites like Wikisource, Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikibooks etc.

There are four other ways to take Wikipedia offline.

Wikipedia Game

Wikipedia is not only about barrages of hyperlinked information. It can give you a bit of a break in between all your Wikipedia research. You are given a random word at the beginning (e.g. Portmanteau) and a final article as an end goal (e.g. Tokyo). Your job is to go from the first article to the last, clicking as few links as possible. That sounds like it could do something to our fun quotient as well as our intelligence one.

Wikipaths is a similar game based on Wikipedia but as a Greasemonkey Firefox add-on.

Wikimedia Mailing List

Clicking on this Wikipedia link takes you to a list of all public mailing lists that you can subscribe to. The most useful mailing list you can subscribe to lets you get the Wikipedia article of the day, every day in your inbox. You also get mentions of a few selected anniversaries as well as the word of the day from Wiktionary and the Quote Of The Day from Wikiquote.

Think of these ten addresses as different kinds of agents who go about gathering Wikipedia information differently. Dive into our past archives of posts on Wikipedia and you will get a few more. They all show one thing ““ the ocean of information that’s Wikipedia is constant, but the way we navigate through it can change in many ways.

Tell us if you depart from the beaten track while trawling through Wikipedia.