Many 2 Many Criticizes Wikipedia
Starting with a Slashdot piece pointing to sources criticizing Wikipedia, Clay focuses on comments by Wikipedia cofounder Larry Sanger.
Jessamyn wants to know what we think about a quote about librarians and privilege. I certainly don’t think our profession operates on privilege. I definitely don’t come from what I would call a privileged background. I’m not sure what Clay means in the quote.
Some thoughts on what Clay writes:
- Smart people using Wikipedia is important, but it’s probably even better to have intelligent, knowledgeable people, people who can add accurate facts, contributing to the articles and working on the project, too. As a resource, it will only be as good as its contributions. Being able to attract and appeal to smart people who scrutinize their sources is important.
- Clay mentions the academic publishing process of “filter, then publish.” From what I understand, many things in Wikipedia are filtered–not necessarily before they’re published. There is a structure involving peer review, though very informally and much of it happens quietly behind the scenes. Otherwise, the Christmahanukwanzaka entry would still be there.
- Governance in anything is problematic. Control in open publishing involving thousands of people around the world is probably particularly problematic. From what I understand, a lot of what’s happening with Wikipedia’s governance seems to be formed in a “learn by doing” kind of model. But whose governance isn’t? Has anyone run this kind of project before? Is there a role model for Wikipedia?
What’s sticking in my mind:
"Next up will be a glum realization that there is nothing that can stop people from contributing to the Wikipedia if they want to, or to stop people from using it if they think it’s useful. Freedom’s funny like that."
"… the Wikipedia makes no claim to expertise or authority other than use-value, and if you want to vote against it, don’t use it. Everyone else will make the same choice for themselves, and the aggregate decisions of the population will determine the outcome of the project."
Maybe after I get some rest and ponder this some more, I’ll have more to add.
