[WEB4LIB] Re: Co-founder of Wikipedia talks about problems

[beden at ccmail.nevada.edu]

I agree with Alain.  I was involved with Wikipedia from the beginning, and
discussed with Larry many times the problems he mentions in his article.
Unfortunately, there will never be an academic interest in this work,
because it just doesn't have any type of adequate peer review or group that
can adequately review the authority and accuracy of what is presented or
"published."

Brad Eden, Ph.D.
Head, Web and Digitization Services
University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries
beden at ccmail.nevada.edu



|---------+----------------------------->
|         |           "Alain D. M. G.   |
|         |           Vaillancourt"     |
|         |           <ndgmtlcd at yahoo.co|
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|         |           01/03/2005 02:51  |
|         |           PM                |
|         |           Please respond to |
|         |           ndgmtlcd          |
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  |       To:       Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at webjunction.org>                                                  |
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  |       Subject:  [WEB4LIB] Re: Co-founder of Wikipedia talks about problems                                                   |
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Hello!

I have been participating in Wikipedia for about a year and a half now
sprucing up articles like "Library" and Dublin Core" (to mention but
two) with a few other participants, and I heartily agree with Sanger's
observations.  Yet I find his conclusions impossible.  No academic body
would be interested in such a monumental task. It would not profit
them.  Basically, Wikipedia is far from being an encyclopedia in any
sense of the term.  It is a beter organized outgrowth of communal blogs
and nothing more.  The best solution would be to drop "pedia" from the
name and put in something else.

Alain Vaillancourt

 --- Karen Coyle <kcoyle at kcoyle.net> a écrit :
> Following up on the various discussions here about Wikipedia, there
> is
> an article by one of its co-founders, Larry Sanger:
>
> http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/12/30/142458/25
>
> He feels that Wikipedia is a reliable source of information, or can
> be.
> (And cites librarians as being among WP's main detractors.) The
> problem,
> though, is that it has developed in a culture of anti-elitism that
> results in a lack for respect for expertise.* This means that experts
> who want to write articles have to spend an inordinate amount of time
> defending themselves when they are questioned by less knowledgeable
> (but
> apparently still quite outspoken) members of the Wikipedia community.
> He
> feels that this is driving off exactly those writers and it sounds
> like
> he's anticipating some kind of melt-down of the Wikipedia process.
>
> * Without waxing too philosophical on this issue, this does have
> elements of the old "democracy=equality=all the same" debate that
> comes
> up in so many venues, and leads to long, drunken arguments over
> whether
> janitors should be paid the same as heart surgeons. I don't have an
> answer, but buy me a drink and I'll join in the debate. ;-)
>
> kc
> --
> -------------------------------------
> Karen Coyle
> Digital Library Specialist
> http://www.kcoyle.net
> Ph: 510-540-7596 Fax: 510-848-3913
> --------------------------------------
>
>
>

=====
Alain D.M.G. Vaillancourt

ndgmtlcd at yahoo.com

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