Wikipedia is ten today … though can you be sure?

IT HAS hammered the nail in the coffin of the door-to-door encyclopedia salesman and encouraged the democratisation of information the world over.

But it has also encouraged the gullible to believe Norman Wisdom wrote The White Cliffs of Dover for Vera Lynn and David Beckham was, in fact, an 18th century Chinese goalkeeper.

After a decade in which the way we use reference material has changed beyond all recognition, Wikipedia, which marks its tenth anniversary today, continues to polarise opinion.

From the site's 17 million articles and 7.3 million images, anyone with access to the internet might browse a bewildering array of topics, from the etymology of the Gaelic language through to feminist critiques of Britain's Got Talent star Susan Boyle.

Not every entry can be taken as gospel. For every supporter of the online encyclopedia who will point to the instantaneous and free access to information, its detractors will question the veracity of that material, which time and again has been found wanting.

Wikipedia continues to grow at an astonishing rate. Founded by Jimmy Wales, an Alabama-born financier and internet entrepreneur, it took just five years to amass its millionth article - a brief but faithful history of Jordanhill railway station in the west end of Glasgow.

It is now the fifth most visited website in the world, with 440 million unique visitors every month, and 1,000 new entries a day.

The Wikipedia debate

• Tom Royal: Is it a useful reference, and is it a force for good? Yes

• Sally Duncan: No

• Wikipedia in numbers

The simple way in which Wikipedia operates is its greatest strength. Its articles are written collaboratively by volunteers around the world, and nearly every entry can be edited by anyone. Ordinary users are complemented by an international team of volunteers about 100,000 strong who help moderate proceedings, with the entire not-for-profit operation funded by donations totalling about 10m a year.

It is a process that puts at the disposal of the public a vast database of information, and has turned on its head the way we exchange information.

"In just ten years Wikipedia has become one of the most popular sources of information online and has been credited with bringing the wiki technology to the masses," explained Phil Stewart, customer service director at Virgin Media Business.

"Wiki software has not only changed the way that the public access and share information, it has transformed the way that businesses share information internally, with many employees using internal wikis on a daily basis to collaborate and share knowledge with colleagues across the globe."

However, the open-ended nature of the site is also its biggest downside. Whether through human error or deliberate sabotage, innumerable entries contain information ranging from the inaccurate to the outright offensive.

One of the most contentious articles is that of former US president George W Bush, whose page was changed so frequently that it has now been "locked" and can only be edited by certain users.If the page was made available for public submissions, Mr Wales said yesterday, "it would take 37 seconds before being filled with curse words".

The site's credibility suffered when, in 2007, one of its most prolific contributors and editors, previously known as a professor of religion with advanced degrees in theology and canon law, was exposed as a 24-year-old community college drop-out.

In its early years, Wikipedia attracted a backlash from those in the traditional reference trade. Nowadays, though, there is less hostility to the site, and in a growing range of contexts its use is cautiously recommended.

Elaine Fulton, director of the Scottish Library and Information Council, told The Scotsman yesterday that the SLIC had even introduced its own service which combines the online aspects of Wikipedia with the knowledge of qualified professionals.

The website, Ask Scotland, allows people to submit questions to librarians who then research the answers and within 48 hours e-mail back an accurate response.

"We've started the service to deal with some of the misconceptions people have about Wikipedia," said Ms Fulton. "It's a website which is fine if you know how to use it, and are able to distinguish good information from bad information.

"But the problem is that 90 per cent of people don't know how to do that. The information isn't regulated, published, or edited in the same way printed works are."

As Wikipedia enters its second decade, those behind the site are not resting on their laurels.

Mr Wales said yesterday that he is hoping to reach a billion users before long, courtesy of an international expansion programme. That vision will begin with the opening of a Wikipedia office in India, the first outside the US.

The 44-year-old explained: "The biggest priority for us is diversifying the contributor base.

"I think our real humanitarian impact will be in the next few years as we bring information to people who haven't had it."