The first audio recording?

[Drumstruck]

Believe it or not? It's logical that something inspired Edison to come up with his (relatively advanced) cylindrical <edit> phonograph...... and it's in Wiki so it must be true....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_sound_recording

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phonautograph

[Manning]

Hey don't knock Wikipedia - I helped create that demented thing.

I have no doubt as to the accuracy of the claim, the references seem pretty solid.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/arts/ ... ml?_r=1&hp

However I also have intimate knowledge of the machinations that go on behind the scenes at Wikipedia, and I can tell you that there is a dedicated group of editors who enjoy destroying the belief of many Americans that they "invented everything".

[waitup]

Wikipedia can be very useful, but an example of when it can fall down is the time my work-mate changed the Sydney Harbour Bridge page to say that the road that goes over it is named after him. It didn't stay like that for too long, but long enough for two other websites to quote it!

[Manning]

Wikipedia is not responsible for lazy journalism or research

It's a useful general reference, but people should never trust it blindly.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30699302/ns ... wikipedia/

[mylesgm]

A friend of mine regularly uses it in arguments with spurious claims that he uploads when he breaks for the 'toilet' and then comes back with the page as proof that he's right....

[Djembe]

My son is living in San Francisco and is doing contract IT consulting work for Wikipedia right now.
He is very impressed with the organisation. Most of the core staff there are devoted full time to checking new entries.

[GlennS]

I remember hearing about this when they successfully converted the recordings to audio several years ago. I think I heard it on the radio & I obviously misunderstood the explanation of the recording process. Until now I visualised someone singing or talking at parchment through the smoke of a burning candle. I'm glad now that the topic didn't come up in the course of pub conversation.