[WikiEN-l] The Economist on New Media

[Arwel Parry]

This week's "Economist" (www.economist.com) has a survey of New Media. 
Unfortunately the section about wikis is "premium content". So, to 
paraphrase:

"When people express scepticism about participatory media, they usually 
have people like Brian Chase in mind...", there then follows a 
column-long retelling of the Seigenthaler case

"For the most part, it is much more worthwhile to dwell on the 
phenomenal opportunities than on the poison pens..." - gives details of 
en.wikipedia doubling in size last year, 12 times bigger than the print 
Britannica, more visitors that the NY Times and CNN, and only 5 years 
old. Describes what wikis are, but also notes that Wikipedia is atypical 
of most wikis because of its size and number of contributors.

Asks how Wikipedia manages to work, quotes Robert McHenry's "faith-based 
encyclopedia", quotes Jimbo on <1% of editors doing half the total edits 
and besides site democracy there's  the occasional aristocracy and 
monarchy when quick action is needed. Reports on reaction to "Nature's" 
comparison with EB: "Jorge Cauz, Britannica's president, claimed victory 
because Wikipedia had 'a third more errors'. Privately, however, 
Britannica's editors were shocked to have to concede that their creation 
contained any errors at all. Total accuracy, after all, is the main 
selling point for the old media.". Reports EB's rebuttal and Nature's 
refutation. "But if it [Nature] did get it wrong, it is not clear why it 
would have erred more for Britannica than for Wikipedia. Mr Hoiberg [EB 
editor-in-chief] puts a brave face on it, claiming that 'our model, 
although not perfect, is the best.'"

Goes on to contrast the reaction to the Nature episode - Britannica 
instinctively regards Wikipedia as a threat, whereas Wikipedians do not 
reciprocate. Quotes Jimbo as being a big fan of EB's work and glad that 
Brockhaus seems to be doing better than ever. The Economist contrasts 
this to the "joyful reaction of Wikipedia's detractors to Brian Chase, 
the dodgy biographer (whose article was literally one in a million)". 
Reports McHenry's public restroom analogy and ends with the rather nice 
sentiment "One wonders whether people like Mr McHenry would prefer there 
to be no public lavatories at all."

-- 
Arwel Parry
http://www.cartref.demon.co.uk/