Top 20 Unconventional Ways to Use Wikipedia (Part 2)

Continuing from where we left off in part 1, here are 10 more creative ways to get even more out of Wikipedia!

11. Simplify Complex Wikipedia Entries

simple

Originally intended for people whose first language is not English, this simplified version of Wikipedia has gained a strong following among native English speakers (including myself) who just want a more readable version of complex articles. 

Simple English Wikipedia uses easy words and shorter sentences so people who read little English may easily read them.

12. Surf Wikipedia with nothing but your keyboard

All heavy Wikipedia users should know at least a few keyboard shortcuts that you have at your disposal.  Here’s a Wikipedia entry which gives you the complete list of every shortcut in existence!

13. Darken Wikipedia and help save the world

dark

We’ve talked about how Google on a dark background could help save tons of energy.  This is how to pull the same thing off for Wikipedia.  Unlike blackgoogle.com, you’ll need to be running

  1. Firefox - the ultimate web browser
  2. The Stylish Firefox extension to modify page style displays on your PC
  3. Dark Wikipedia style file to get the desired effect

A long process indeed, but hey - you’ll be helping to save the world…

14. View Wikipedia by date

future

This series of Wikipedia pages shows you everything interesting which happened in a particular year… and more.  What’s interesting here, is that it goes beyond historical events, listing down events which are scheduled to happen in the future - all the way up to the year 2100!  You can sort through interesting events by centuries, decades, or years.

15. Explore Wikipedia Sister Sites

One aspect rarely explored by many people would be the Wikipedia sister sites. 

  • Meta-Wiki - Coordination of all Wikimedia projects.
  • Wiktionary - A collaborative multilingual dictionary.
  • Wikinews - News stories written by readers.
  • Wikibooks - A collection of collaborative textbooks.
  • Wikiquote - A compendium of referenced quotations.
  • Wikisource - A repository for free source texts.
  • Wikispecies - A directory of species.
  • Wikiversity- Where teachers learn, and learners teach.
  • Commons - Repository for free stock images and other media files (My favourite)

    …Also useful is the Wiki for dedicated special interests - Wikia.

    16. Put Wikipedia on your iPod

    Imagine carrying the world?s most comprehensive encyclopedia - in your pocket!  Well imagine no more - check out my past review of Encyclopodia -Wikipedia on your iPod

    17. Search Wikipedia directly from your browser

    This tip should be second nature to anyone using the Firefox browser. 

    Just go the the top right of your browser, and click on the button next to the searchbox to reveal all the different search providers you can use - including Wikipedia

    For those of you using Internet Explorer 7, do not despair.  Simply go to the top right of your browser and ‘Find More Providers’ to add Wikipedia to your search options.

    ie7 

    18. Track Wikipedia entries through time

    For the sake of proper administration Wikipedia will keep all historical records of edits made to any given page.  What this becomes however, is a time capsule.  It becomes a way to track product development, or how people viewed a certain topic at any given time. 

    To get to this option, go to any Wikipedia entry - then select history, and then select any point of time.

    19. Find Wikipedia entries that link to any web page

    links

    Want to know if Wikipedia is already citing a certain source?  Wikipedia has a special page where you can enter any web page to find Wikipedia pages linking to it.  

    20. Download a constantly updating offline version of Wikipedia

    Webaroo is a free mobile technology designed to bring your favourite content along with you, demonstrated the best use case of its offline search with Web Packs technology recently. Webaroo introduced Wikipedia Web Pack that compresses the Wikipedia to 6GB. 

    The Webaroo Web Pack provides you with all the Wikipedia text, but strips out all images contained. 

    If you are interested in particular topics available at Wikipedia, Webaroo provides individual Web Packs for them.  The best part - Webaroo will SYNC content - so you will get a live updated version whenever you sync up!

     

    …and that’s it!  20 unconventional ways you can use Wikipedia - the greatest source of information ever created! 

    Bonus tip #1: Want a suitable wikipedia alternative?  Try this list of the best online research sites you’ve never heard of!

    Bonus tip #2: Errors in the Encyclopedia Britannica that have been corrected in Wikipedia

     

    [tags] wikipedia,webaroo, wikimedia, wiki, wikia [/tags]

    Check out part 1 for more creative ways to stretch Wikipedia.  Have an unconventional way of using Wikipedia?  Tell us in the comments!

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    • 2 Responses to 'Top 20 Unconventional Ways to Use Wikipedia (Part 2)'

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    1. game hacks said,

      on August 2nd, 2007 at 12:38 am

      hm.. very well written, good insightful on information and stuff related with Wikipedia.

      Pretty good job !

      Yes its popular among non-englishers

    2. 20 Little Known Ways to Use Wikipedia said,

      on April 21st, 2008 at 4:21 pm

      [...] 8- You can also download the whole Wikipedia site for offline viewing, if you want to (warning: huge disk spaces needed). (thanks James!) [...]

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