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Want to stay focused when reading about a topic on Wikipedia, but your curiosity is piqued by the links in the text? Check out this Chrome extension to stay on track.

Visiting Wikipedia to look up information on one topic generally means reading up on several others. The links within the text body are meant to be useful, but can sometimes turn into a huge time sink.

Web comic xkcd illustrates this situation perfectly in "The Problem with Wikipedia." Sometimes, it's just too tempting to click those links to learn about something else.

If you want to stay focused when you're checking out a specific topic, Lifehacker recommends using WikiTweaks for your Chrome browser. WikiTweaks adjusts the formatting of each entry on Wikipedia and adds pop-up summaries of those tempting links, keeping you on the right page.

To get started, install a copy of WikiTweaks for your Google Chrome browser.

A summary pops up for the link. Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET

Head to a topic on Wikipedia. This example will work with panna cotta. As you can see, there are lots of links within the text to tell you about other topics such as: Italian, simmering and even gelatin. Just mouse over one of the links and a small summary will appear. This summary has been pulled from the first paragraph of the Wikipedia entry for that topic.

WikiTweaks button has a recent Wikipedia history. Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET

Another difference you may notice is the formatting of the entire Wikipedia page. Now there is less space in the left and right margins, which makes more use of your screen real estate. Lastly, if you click the WikiTweaks button, you'll see a list of recently viewed Wikipedia entries.

This extension makes Wikipedia more user-friendly by helping you find out what a linked word refers to, without losing track of what you went to the site for in the first place.

The rest is here:
Use WikiTweaks to avoid distractions on Wikipedia

Wikipedia is the first place many people turn to online to find answers, but the website's gender imbalance means the contribution of leading women in academia is going unrecognised in the annals of the world's largest digital encyclopaedia.

Despite the website's reach, exceeding more than 34 million pages and spanning a diverse range of topics from biographies to world events, women are significantly underrepresented on Wikipedia.

Faced with a paucity of female entries on Wikipedia's peer-edited pages, the University of Sydney will lead a 'wikibombing' activation on Friday and launch a campaign to bolster the online profile of more than 100 women who are leaders in their field.

University of Sydney Vice-Chancellor Dr Michael Spence said the edit-a-thon is the first in a series of events connected with the Women at Sydney symposium being hosted on Saturday, and aims to improve the reporting and coverage of women online.

"The University of Sydney was one of the first universities in the world to admit students solely on academic merit and to open its doors to women on the same basis as men," Dr Spence said.

"For more than 160 years, the University of Sydney has cultivated bold thinking and leadership, and this wikibombing endeavour is a continuation of our commitment to leadership on gender equality.

"It's important that we honour women who are paving the way and promote their work on the web to ensure they are recognised for their leadership and celebrated as role models."

The University Chancellor Belinda Hutchinson said volunteers at the edit-a-thon will become editors to ensure 100 women's contribution to academia, business and the community will be recorded on Wikipedia.

"There are hundreds of entries for notable University of Sydney women in the nation's pre-eminent dictionary of national biography, The Australian Dictionary of Biography, but a scarce few are mentioned on Wikipedia," Ms Hutchinson said.

"In fact, of 300 entries of eminent women from the University of Sydney detailed in the authoritative dictionary biographies, only 34 have Wikipedia articles.

Originally posted here:
University deploys wikibomb because it believes a woman's place is on the web

Goalkeeper Fraser Hobday asked sister to post 3,271-word Wikipedia entry 19-year-old plays for Huntly FC rooted to bottom of Scottish semi-pro league Wikipedia entry is bigger than one describing Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart's entire career Biography, which includes a rundown of his school career, went viral online Said he used entry as online CV and admits he has been teased by friends Wikipedia has suspended the entry because it does not match its guidelines for entries on footballers

By Julian Robinson and Jennifer Newton for MailOnline

Published: 20:36 EST, 28 October 2014 | Updated: 05:01 EST, 29 October 2014

Fraser Hobday, pictured, asked his sister to post his entire career and life story online - right from his early days at primary school.

A footballer playing for a team languishing at the bottom of a Scottish semi-professional league scored an own goal - by giving himself a Wikipedia entry almost as big as a Premier League star.

Cafe worker Fraser Hobday who plays in goal for lowly Huntly FC who are currently bottom of their division with a goal difference of minus 33.

But despite his modest achievements the 19-year-old asked his sister to post a rundown of his career and life story online - right from his early days at primary school.

The trainee chef's 3,271-word biography tells how he failed to keep any clean sheets at his first senior club.

He then describes how he faced the pressure of a penalty in his first big game for Huntly FC, who play in the Scottish Highland League - and let in the goal.

The career of Joe Hart, the Manchester City and England goalkeeper, who has won two Premier League title is described on Wikipedia in 200 words less.

Read the original here:
Goalkeeper Fraser Hobday in Scottish Highland League has bigger Wikipedia page than Joe Hart

Goalkeeper Fraser Hobday asked sister to post 3,271-word Wikipedia entry 19-year-old plays for Huntly FC rooted to bottom of Scottish semi-pro league Wikipedia entry is only slightly smaller than one describing Gary Lineker's entire career Biography, which includes a rundown of his school career, went viral online Said he used entry as online CV and admits he has been teased by friends Wikipedia has suspended the entry because it does not match its guidelines for entries on footballers

By Julian Robinson for MailOnline

Published: 12:21 EST, 28 October 2014 | Updated: 12:59 EST, 28 October 2014

Fraser Hobday, pictured, asked his sister to post his entire career and life story online - right from his early days at primary school.

A footballer playing for a team languishing at the bottom of a Scottish semi-professional league scored an own goal - by giving himself a Wikipedia entry almost as big as Gary Lineker's.

Cafe worker Fraser Hobday keeps goal for lowly Huntly FC who are currently bottom of their division with a goal difference of minus 33.

But despite his modest achievements the 19-year-old asked his sister to post a rundown of his career and life story online - right from his early days at primary school.

The trainee chef's 3,271-word biography tells how he failed to keep any clean sheets at his first senior club.

He then describes how he faced the pressure of a penalty in his first big game for Huntly FC, who play in the Scottish Highland League - and let in the goal.

The career of football legend and Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker - England's second highest goal scorer - is described on Wikipedia in just 600 more words.

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Footballer Fraser Hobday has a Wikipedia entry as big as Gary Lineker's

Slubice, Poland, now hosts a monument honoring contributors to the free online encyclopedia. If you can't go see it for yourself, you can read all about it on Wikipedia.

Awersowy/Wikipedia

If you plan to visit Slubice, Poland, you might want to read about the place on Wikipedia first. Then you might consider showing your appreciation for the info by visiting the new Wikipedia monument there. Yes, Slubice is now home to the first-ever Wikipedia monument, according to (who else?) Wikipedia.

The fiberglass and resin monument, designed by Armenian sculptor Mihran Hakobyan, depicts the iconic Wikipedia puzzle-piece-globe held aloft by four humans. As with the iconic globe seen online, missing pieces represent the ever-expanding realm of human knowledge. The sculpture, which measures 5.5 feet inches by 2 feet by 2 feet, was unveiled last week in the city's Frankfurt Square.

Krzysztof Wojciechowski, director of the academic institution Collegium Polonicum, which the artist attended, came up with the idea for a monument honoring Wikipedia's contributors.

"I'm ready to drop to my knees before Wikipedia, that's why I thought of a monument where I could do it." Wojciechowski said.

Indeed, in its inscription, the sculpture expresses great appreciation for the many volunteers who have kept Wikipedia bursting with information on virtually every subject since its founding 14 years ago.

"With this monument the citizens of Subice would like to pay homage to thousands of anonymous editors all over the world, who have contributed voluntarily to the creation of Wikipedia, the greatest project co-created by people regardless of political, religious or cultural borders," the inscription reads. "In the year this monument is unveiled Wikipedia is available in more than 280 languages and contains about 30 million articles. The benefactors behind this monument feel certain that with Wikipedia as one of its pillars the knowledge society will be able to contribute to the sustainable development of our civilization, social justice and peace among nations."

The widely used online compendium, of course, has faced charges of spotty reliability, especially in its earlier days. Last year, Wikipedia revealed that it banned hundreds of accounts as part of an investigation into "suspicious edits and sockpuppetry" that promoted organizations or products. It has since instituted new terms of use that require volunteer editors to disclose whether they have been compensated for their contributions.

The town of Slubice funded the structure, which cost 67,000 zloty ($27,000, 21,263), according to the Collegium Polonicum.

Continued here:
A Wikipedia monument? It's true (we're pretty sure)