Robert Dale McHenry (born April 30, 1945) is the editor of a number of mainly biographical works and was Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopędia Britannica from 1992 to 1997.
Education
McHenry studied at Northwestern University and the University of Michigan.
Works
Writer of
Editor of
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- Merriam-Websters American Biographers
- Webster's American Military Biographies
Co-editor of
- A documentary history of conservation in America
- Encyclopędia Britannica
- Liberty's Women
- The Temper of John Dryden
- Webster's American biographies
-
Criticism of Wikipedia
In a 2004 article published on Tech Central Station, "The Faith-Based Encyclopedia", McHenry made several criticisms of the structure of Wikipedia. The core of his argument can be summarised as follows: Anybody can edit Wikipedia, no matter how ill-qualified. As a result, even a somewhat well-written article will tend to degrade over time as ignorant or incompetent people make subsequent alterations. As a result, he argued that Wikipedia could never become a reliable source of information. McHenry used the Wikipedia article on Alexander Hamilton to illustrate his point.
McHenry concludes:
- The user who visits Wikipedia to learn about some subject, to confirm some matter of fact, is rather in the position of a visitor to a public restroom. It may be obviously dirty, so that he knows to exercise great care, or it may seem fairly clean, so that he may be lulled into a false sense of security. What he certainly does not know is who has used the facilities before him.
References
"McHenry, Robert". Encyclopędia Britannica. Retrieved April 1, 2005, from Encyclopędia Britannica Premium Service.
link.
External links
Last updated: 10-26-2005 07:09:10
