Editing 978: Citogenesis

{{comic
| number    = 978
| date      = November 16, 2011
| title     = Citogenesis
| image     = citogenesis.png
| titletext = I just read a pop-science book by a respected author. One chapter, and much of the thesis, was based around wildly inaccurate data which traced back to... Wikipedia. To encourage people to be on their toes, I'm not going to say what book or author.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is calling into question the {{w|reliability of Wikipedia}}. This is a favorite pastime of librarians and professional researchers, and not usually one of [[Randall]]'s. But, to take it seriously for a moment: People, Wikipedia is editable by anyone. If you are doing serious work, follow through the citations, and decide which are from upstanding sources, and which are just people writing on their blog, and which are people writing on their blog who know what they are talking about.

The title of the comic is a play on the word [http://www.merriam-webster.com/medical/cytogenesis cytogenesis]. Cytogenesis is the formation of cells and their development. Citogenesis, on the other hand is a [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/portmanteau portmanteau] of 'Citation' and 'Genesis'. [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/citation Citation] meaning quoting a source. [http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genesis?show=1&t=1346949206 Genesis] being the origin of something. So, citogenesis would be the creation of a quote that can be used to back-up a fact or statement.

The comic is discussing citogenesis occurring on {{w|Wikipedia}}, a free and freely editable encyclopedia that aims to become the most complete and correct knowledge base available. Wikipedia aims to provide only accurate information backed by reliable sources. However, this comic strip details a process in which Wikipedia can not only spread misinformation, but make said misinformation seem reliable through a process of "circular reporting".

This process is when someone adds an untrue detail onto Wikipedia. A writer of some supposedly reliable source checks Wikipedia for information, and includes that information. Now, there is a citation of a reliable source saying that the information is true. This leads to other people being more likely to trust wikipedia, making the information used by more reliable sources, making a positive-feedback loop. 

Four years before, Randall [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Xkcd&diff=162077300 commented on Wikipedia] about that process happening to him (on a minor detail), which probably indicates the inception of this comic:
<blockquote>''I've never referred to the [[1: Barrel - Part 1|boy in the barrel]] as "Barrel Lad" -- that seems to have started in this [Wikipedia] article. I've called him "Barrel boy" or "The boy in the barrel". Minor detail, but it's funny how sometimes something can appear on Wikipedia, get referenced in other places, and then Wikipedia cites those other places as supporting references. Hooray {{w|Wikipedia in culture#Wikiality|Wikiality}}!'' <small>— Randall Munroe as user "xkcd", [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Xkcd/Archive_2#Notes_from_the_author en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Xkcd#Notes_from_the_author], 3 October 2007</small></blockquote>

The misinformation in question is the untrue assertion that {{w|Steven Chu}}, a physicist and at the time of the strip the U.S. Secretary of Energy at the time of this strip, invented the {{w|Scroll lock}} key, a common button on computer keyboards. As most people are aware of the scroll lock key but know little about its function or origins, this false information would make for an interesting piece of trivia that would likely spread very quickly.    

Following this comic, the actual {{w|Scroll lock}} and {{w|Steven Chu}} articles {{w|Talk:Scroll_lock#Thanks_Randall|were both}} {{w|Talk:Steven_Chu#Scroll_lock_key|wiki-bombed}} by "helpful" editors trying to enforce Randall's reality on the Internet. The Wikipedia article on {{w|Citogenesis}} redirects to the {{w|Reliability of Wikipedia#Information loop|information loop}} section on the article "Reliability of Wikipedia".  That section ends with crediting the term "citogenesis" to "webcomic artist Randall Munroe", with a link to this comic. To make matters even more surreal, some Wikipedia editor once flagged the link to this xkcd comic as "Dubious - The material near this tag is possibly inaccurate or non-factual."! This now has three citations.

We will probably never know the book or author Randall mentions in the title text, but there is a nice similar story about the former German minister {{w|Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg}}. His complete name contains fifteen names/words and reads: Karl-Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg. An anonymous user added one more ("Wilhelm") to the German Wikipedia, just the evening before Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg was presented as the new Federal Minister of Economics and Technology on February 10, 2009. The next day many major German newspapers published this wrong name ([http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bildblog.de%2F5704%2Fwie-ich-freiherr-von-guttenberg-zu-wilhelm-machte%2F translation of bildblog.de]).

==Transcript==
:Where Citations Come From:
:Citogenesis Step #1
:Through a convoluted process, a user's brain generates facts. These are typed into Wikipedia.
:[A guy with short hair sits at a desk, typing on a laptop.]
:Guy: (typing) The "scroll lock" key was was designed by future Energy Secretary Steven Chu in a college project.

:A rushed writer checks Wikipedia for a summary of their subject.
:[Ponytail sits at a desk, typing on a desktop.]
:Ponytail: (typing) US Energy Secretary Steven Chu, (Nobel Prizewinner and creator of the ubiquitous "scroll lock" key) testified before Congress today...
:Step #2

:Surprised readers check Wikipedia, see the claim, and flag it for review. A passing editor finds the piece and adds it as a citation.
:[Cueball sits on a couch with a laptop in his lap, typing.]
:Cueball: Google is your friend, people. (typing) <nowiki><ref>{{cite web|url=</nowiki>
:Step #3

:Step #4
:Now that other writers have a real source, they repeat the fact.
:[A flow chart, with "Wikipedia citation" in the center. The word "Wikipedia" is in black, the word "citations" is white with a red background.
:A black arrow leads from "brain" to "Wikipedia."
:A black arrow labeled "words" leads from "Wikipedia" to "careless writers," and a red arrow labeled "citations" leads back to "Wikipedia citations."
:A black & red arrow leads from "Wikipedia" to "cited facts" which leads to "slightly more careful writers," which leads to "more citations," which leads back to :"Wikipedia" (all black & red arrows).]
:References proliferate, completing the citogenesis process.

==Trivia==
* The word "was" occurs twice consecutively in the first panel.

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