Here is a translation of the jury's decision:
At a time when great confusion reigned about how to assess the dissertation of Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the "GuttenPlag Wiki" created clarity. In an unprecedented form of collaboration thousands of web users examined the thesis in detail and found discrepancies. Plagiarisms that were found were precisely documented in parallel with the original sources. An overview of the plagiarisms found was kept current on the first page of the wiki.Congratulations!
This method of working produced excellent results in a very short time. The results are verifiable for anyone, making this web site a central contact point for the discussion about plagiarism in the dissertation that was conducted in the media and in the general populace for weeks on end.
The fair and unbiased mode of operation used by the administrators of the wiki was outstanding, and channeled the onslaught of prospective users into constructive paths that delivered a sober overview of the findings. The public statements of Minister Guttenberg about his thesis were thus set in contrast to the facts that could be evaluated by anyone.
Not only was the project idea of the initiators noteworthy, but also the hundreds of web users who found more and more passages online and offline, that were used in the thesis without proper attribution. The project makes it clear that text comparisons can be well-organized in a collaborative manner and shows the possibilities of the web in general for group work.
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A great topic discussing the jury’s decision!!! I would rather focus on the line in the translation part “The public statements of Guttenberg on his work have been compared to all verifiable facts “ but where are the illusions lying that need to be verified and the world very well knows the real tale.
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