The WIKI as The New Age Scholarly Journal?

[Gerry Mckiernan]

Colleagues/

In my literature search about WIKIs [
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikis ] earlier this week,  I learned of 
a Most Interesting Letter in BMJ  titled "It's a Wiki Wiki World"  [
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/326/7395/932/a  ] 

KEY EXCERPT
"The future belongs to Lisa. Smart and articulate, she will thrive in a
milieu that she manipulates so that useful information will flow towards
her. By participating in her online communities and achieving status in
these groups, she will be the one who knows (or at least who knows who
knows) the required information. 

[SNIP]

TAKE HOME MESSAGE
Fortunately the internet has given us the answer_one_ the Wikipedia
concept, which has developed as a result of the open source software
model using free (wiki) software (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine). The
essential features are a revision control system, unrestricted editing
of articles on the wiki by any registered member, unrestricted
membership of the wiki, and the ability to fork articles (or see current
versions at the same time). In addition, no copies are deleted and the
newer versions of an article comprise the original article with all
additions made cumulatively.


This Letter was in response to a Most Entertaining and Informative
article titled "Four Futures for Scientific and Medical Publishing"
[ http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/325/7378/1472 ]  that
provides a profile of various publication models
through the  Simpson Family Characters (Homer, Marge, Bart, and Lisa)
[WOW!]

I'd appreciate ANY and ALL reactions to The Letter and/or The Article!

[BUT, Don't Have a Cow, Man]
[http://animatedtv.about.com/cs/faqs/a/simpsonbios_2.htm ] [:-)

/Gerry  

Gerry McKiernan
Most Entertaining and Informative Librarian
Iowa State University 
Ames IA 50011

gerrymck at iastate.edu