A German Wiki page called GuttenPlag Wiki crowdsourced plagiarism checking and revealed that former German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg plagiarized part of his doctoral thesis, Deutsche-Welle reported.
GuttenPlag Wiki was awarded the Grimme Online prize for its plagiarism detection work. As Deutsche-Welle explained, “more than 1,000 volunteers contributed to GuttenPlag Wiki” and examining Guttenberg’s thesis.
The Local added that media research institute, the Grimme Institute, which gives the prize, highlighted the volunteers’ “initiative” and use of the web for “collective scrutiny.”