Friday, May 19, 2006
Wonderfully Wicked
[Ed. note: we were recently challenged for citing a Wikipedia article on Mario Savio. This was our response.]
Wikipedia is indeed a free-content encyclopedia, administered by the Wikipedia Foundation, and, as a highly popular reference resource, has been challenged on grounds of its authoritative reliability. That said, its utility should not be so casually dismissed, for its content -- like all publicly-created knowledge and memory -- is constructivist in the sense that we build, negotiate, and rebuild it every day. As an example, just look at the relationship between weblogs and corporate-owned media regarding news and information.
This is not to say we should abandon our discretion or skepticism when it comes to the Internet any more than we should at the doors to state-owned universities or at the windows to pro-market TV. It is merely to acknowledge the value of contributions to human understanding made by scholars and concerned individuals outside those authorized by governments and approved by corporations.
It's a new world order.
Wikipedia is indeed a free-content encyclopedia, administered by the Wikipedia Foundation, and, as a highly popular reference resource, has been challenged on grounds of its authoritative reliability. That said, its utility should not be so casually dismissed, for its content -- like all publicly-created knowledge and memory -- is constructivist in the sense that we build, negotiate, and rebuild it every day. As an example, just look at the relationship between weblogs and corporate-owned media regarding news and information.
This is not to say we should abandon our discretion or skepticism when it comes to the Internet any more than we should at the doors to state-owned universities or at the windows to pro-market TV. It is merely to acknowledge the value of contributions to human understanding made by scholars and concerned individuals outside those authorized by governments and approved by corporations.
It's a new world order.
