Wikipedia Detour
When you encounter an unfamiliar or suspicious website, take a brief detour to Wikipedia to check the organization’s background before investing time in its claims.
THE IDEA
INSTITUTE FOR HISTORICAL REVIEW
You find yourself reading something about World War II, and a few clicks later you land on ihr.org, something called the Institute for Historical Review.
It’s a dot-org, which by this point in the book you realize means diddly-squat. The tag line at the top seems reasonable enough: “For a more just, sane and peaceful world.” Then you start to notice the articles clustering around Nazi Germany, US foreign policy, and Israel. Especially Israel. Lots of articles about Israel and Jews. You could continue reading more deeply—or you could take a thirty-second Wikipedia detour. It’s a smart use of thirty seconds because Wikipedia’s opening sentence confirms your gut: the Institute for Historical Review is “an organization best known for promoting Holocaust denial,” a statement backed by five references. You’re outta here.
Figure 7.4 Masthead of the Institute for Historical Review (ihr.org)
When to use it
Evaluating a news article from an unfamiliar website.
Checking the background of a charity or organization before donating.
Assessing the credibility of a blog post or opinion piece shared on social media.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Checking the Institute for Historical Review
A reader encounters the website ihr.org, which appears professional but has a suspicious focus. Instead of analyzing the content, they take a 30-second Wikipedia detour and learn the organization is known for Holocaust denial, prompting them to leave the site.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
What are some signs that a website might be unreliable, prompting you to use the Wikipedia detour?
How does taking a quick detour to an authoritative source save time compared to reading deeply on the suspicious site?
Can you think of a time when you could have used this heuristic to quickly assess a source?
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Verified How to Think Straight, Get Duped Less, and Make Better Decisions about What to Believe Online (Mike Caulfield, Sam Wineburg)