Schriftgröße:     

The website Wikipedia is one of the most important general reference works on the Internet, also with regard to the subject history. Most students know and read Wikipedia. This raises sometimes concern among professional historians and teachers (as much as among other scholars). The usually expressed fear deals with the reliability of the content.

This article presents a brief description of the main process structures behind the scenery. Wikipedia, as analysed here at the example of Wikipedia in German, knows several places to discuss about the content of the encyclopedic articles, as well about general issues of this peticular encyclopedia. The article closes with an overview of scholarly opinions on the reliability and usability of Wikipedia.