GREAT IDEAS: Aspiring to Be the Wikipedia of Numbers

On the home page of Numberpedia today, visitors will find the latest estimates of the death toll from the Peru earthquake, the percentage of women who gain more than 40 pounds during pregnancy and the number of doctorates awarded during the 2004-05 school year. The site, launched two weeks ago and still small, aspires to be the Wikipedia of numbers—a place where anyone can contribute (or seek out) statistics about a wide range of topics.


Numberpedia is full of promise and pitfalls. Like Wikipedia, each entry is supposed to include a link to source material and there are forums where other users can discuss and question entries. Unlike Wikipedia, a contributor can opt to prevent other users from editing a certain entry. Mr. Silverberg doesn’t guarantee the numbers will be accurate, saying, “It’s up to the user who finds one of these statistics to judge the credibility of the author and the source.”

A wellspring of material for this blog is the failure of news media and press releases to provide adequate sourcing, context and caution about numbers. Numberpedia threatens to take that a step further, by stripping the number of out of its surroundings, and offering the nearest source—such as a newspaper article—even if that source was in turn citing another, which was citing another, and so on.

“I could see how someone could misuse a service like Numberpedia, to lend this false authority,” Mr. Silverberg told me. “Numberpedia is the beginning. It is meant to start a discussion. … It’s a place to get a number to frame a broader research endeavor. It would certainly be a shame if Numberpedia was the beginning and the end of a research project.” He adds that sometimes, getting a number in the correct ballpark can suffice for a research or business purpose; that was often his experience when seeking market-research data while working at several tech companies before enrolling in business school.

Companies and organizations may input numbers directly on Numberpedia, as long as they are open about their submission. By way of example, Mr. Silverberg says, “Microsoft has all kinds of fascinating statistics about the number of users of their products, growth rates and sales results from product launches. These are often buried in press releases.” Mr. Silverberg adds, “Hopefully this will lead to better analysis and more transparency of statistical information.”

What do you think? Would you use Numberpedia? Could it improve the use of numbers, or encourage people to grab numbers without carefully considering them? Please let me know in the comments.