[WEB4LIB] RE: "Generation shifts" and technology

[arhyno at uwindsor.ca]

At one point in Canada, at least, the fastest growing segment of Internet 
users were senior citizens. If there is a generation shift, I wonder if 
its more slanted towards awareness of bias, or suspicion of conspiracy, or 
some other combination that reflects phenomena like the X-Files and 
Michael Moore. This is where I think wikipedia is so interesting since a 
variety of viewpoints fight it out and the world is not always neatly 
folded into one entry. The slashdot discussions on Sanger's article have 
had some contributors weighing in, including the current featured article 
director of wikipedia, and there is no doubt that controversial subjects 
end up with editing and behavior issues. But when wikipedia works well, 
and it often does, it is quite remarkable. See this entry via Seb's Open 
Research blog for example, 
http://radio.weblogs.com/0110772/2005/01/05.html#a1675. It would be useful 
to have better mechanisms for disclosure of subject background, 
credentials, bias, and so on, but the wikipedia folks seem to want this 
too.

art