Wiki Wiki What?

1999:
In high school, research meant looking through card catalogs and searching through abstracts to find articles and books, and if we were lucky, getting to use InfoTrac (where all information was retrieved swiftly on the school's dial-up Internet connection). 

2001:
In the beginning of my college career, research was more user-friendly.  Online abstract search engines became available, making the search through the Dewey-Decimal-System-organized bookshelves much more bearable.

2005:
By the end of college, I had discovered and mastered online databases.  Databases filled with full-text articles that were not only extensive, but free! I NEVER had to leave my computer to gather all the research I would need (except for short walks to the printer, which was bad for the planet, but great for my time management).  I quickly gained a huge appreciation for Lexus Nexis and Ebsco. It couldn't get easier!


Then, Wikipedia happend.  I scoffed at Wikipedia.  It was unreliable!  Not factual! Anyone can contribute to it! and most importantly, it was for lazy students!  Google would bring up Wikipedia articles and I would breeze right past them.  'Not a reliable source,' ringing in my ears (even if I was just looking up where Britney Spears was born).  I really hated when people typed in http://www.wikipedia.com/ instead or http://www.wikipedia.org/.  Yes, I was a wiki-wiki-snob.

Bring on 2010:
My current thoughts on Wikipedia?  I'm still not sure.  I will now consult the search engine to give me direction in research or use it is to solve a disagreement (exactly what is kimchi anyways?)  So I'm not completely sold.  However, I have learned many cool things about my town, Chilhowee, MO, via the search engine.  Check out the notable people in my town of 300 people, ahem, 329 people.  I mean, I knew my dad was an awesome BBQ smoker, I just had no idea he would make it to the world wide web!

So what do you think?