[WEB4LIB] Re: Wired article on Wikipedia

[Elizabeth Thomsen]

On Thu, 3 Mar 2005 14:43:28 -0800 (PST) "Alain D. M. G. Vaillancourt"
wrote [in part]:
> 3- It forgets to mention what seems to me like a very positive point,
> that of the possibility of "looking under the hood" of the editing
> process, thanks to the "talk" page (click on "discuss this page") of
> each article. 

And, at least for some pages, this can really be interesting.  A group
will often get engaged in a serious discussion on the meaning of NPOV
(neutral point of view) and how to make a particular article more
balanced.  There are disagreements, particularly when religious,
political and social topics are discussed.  People from around the world
and of very different backgrounds participate, and though I have been
thinking about issues of information and objectivity as a librarian for
many years, I must say that reading these discussions has often really
made me think about things in a different way.  

-- 
Elizabeth Thomsen, Member Services Manager
NOBLE: North of Boston Library Exchange
Danvers MA 01923
et at noblenet.org