[Wikipedia-l] An idea

[Christopher Mahan]

--- Jimmy Wales <jwales at wikia.com> wrote:
> I had an idea the other day while I was on a radio interview.

I personally don't like the idea, because it does create a sense of
"I have a PHD in Astrophysics and you don't so stfu" that I don't
think would be conducive to the exercise of wikilove.

I would say that userpages are a great place for this sort of
information. If you have a degree in Engineering from CalTech, put
the year you graduated. If you have 12 years experience in laying
Italian marble, say so. If you're been working for the Japanese
Consulate in Los Angeles for 9 years, write it down.

I think that very little of the world's knowledge and expertise is
accurately captured by academia's diplomas.

If you're a veteran helicopter pilot, you training coming from Desert
Storm and now you're an instructor at a military base, I would say
your degree and certifications are probably rock-solid.

If you are making cheese and have been taught by your father, who was
taught by his father, who was taught by his father and forebearers
and ancestors all the way to the 11th century, you may not have a
high school diploma, but you probably know more about cheese than a
recent agronomy phd.

I would say that there is a perception that if "William Thurmond Sr."
edits an article, it will be more authoritative than if "pixidust"
edits it. Yet "pixidust" may understand 17th century scottish
litterature better than Thurmond Sr. Heck, she may really be Ann
Margaret Bershire, Ph. D. and Professor of Linguistics at Cambridge
University, who prefers to let loose on WP as "pixidust" because she
doesn't want to get the cold shoulder from her high and mighty crusty
colleages.

I would also say, as someone pointed out, that the very lack of
prominent information about authors leads people to contribute who
don't want to be in the limelight of controversy, something which I
think is the plague of most other online content systems.

I think that when professionals come in to look at wikipedia and see
the articles in their area of expertise, and see the quality of the
writing, the clarity in which ideas are expressed, and the
accuntability of the system, they immediately realise that this is
not  usenet.

Chris Mahan
818.943.1850 cell
chris_mahan at yahoo.com
chris.mahan at gmail.com
http://www.christophermahan.com/


		
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