[WikiEN-l] Citizendium hits 5000 articles

[Steven Walling]

If I'm understanding you correctly, you're talking about the lack of
English speaking experts on topics about non-English speaking
countries?

No, I'm talking about credentialed/degreed people (and their pretenders) who
can't bear the idead of writing a thousand words on the Simpsons. The kind
of person that finds Citizendium attractive is the same that thinks that the
Galileo article must morally be longer than the Paris Hilton one. Wikipedia
doesn't make that kind of distinction. In other words, they're just like a
wiki version of Britannica, which the world doesn't want or need. No person
of my generation (I'm 20) would ever choose the online version of Britannica
over Wikipedia, even if it was free.

On Jan 23, 2008 2:07 PM, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 23/01/2008, Steven Walling <steven.walling at gmail.com> wrote:
> > I'd agree with charles comments above, but let me rephrase my
> observation.
> >
> > Citizendium has, in my opinion, an infinitely larger potential for
> > maintaining its current systemic bias, unlike wikipedia, which is
> constantly
> > correcting this (see things such as User:llrwych's recent devotion to
> the
> > history of Ethiopia and the like). The very nature of the cz project and
> its
> > base of contributors demands a bias in the topics it gives substantial
> > coverage to.
> >
> > Start with intellectual and personal elitism, and you're going to have
> that
> > bias show in your work, just like academia. Also just like academia,
> this
> > bias doesn't negate the value of the work they do focus on, but you
> still
> > have to acknowledge that there will always be holes in their coverage.
>
> If I'm understanding you correctly, you're talking about the lack of
> English speaking experts on topics about non-English speaking
> countries? I'm not sure how serious an issue that is - most academics
> anywhere in the world speak decent English, if they look for them, I'm
> sure they can find suitable experts of Ethiopian history, or whatever.
>
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