Just spent some time searching Wikipedia. Looked up New York, of course, and food in New York, of course. Results are very inconsistent. Under Street Food, there is a very specific entry describing a food cart that is famously referred to as The Halal Cart, giving its location, hours and menu. Other street foods are clickable but take you to a generic description, say of Italian ices, offering no details of where to find this product on the streets of New York. One very useful segment of New York Street Food is a list of neighbourhoods in New York and which ethnic foods are featured there. I will print that off and study it closely!
I find Wikipedia really feels user-driven, lacking an authoritative, reliable feel. Having said that, though, there was nothing in my searches that needed grammatical or factual correction. I searched Carol Shields, Michael Jackson, Blogs, Cookies, Kosher symbols, and Scottsdale, Arizona. I do not usually recommend Wikipedia to custmers at the reference desk because of the spotty nature of the content. However, sometimes it is the quickest and easiest way to answer a question. So, I have a love-hate kind of relationship with Wikipedia. I keep it in mind when I am at a loss with customers, as a last resort, but always qualify my use of it by saying "anyone can publish on Wikepedia and it is therefore not considered authoritative or reliable".
Thursday, April 8, 2010
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