Brian Brian.Mingus@colorado.edu wrote:
Let's be clear that, especially after the failure of Nupedia to take off, Wikipedia's success was a surprise both to Sanger and Wales. Neither of them expected that this would happen and can therefore not take full or too much credit for it.
The fact that they were surprised by its success does not mean that they don't deserve credit for it. History is full of ideas whose success surprised their creators. I'm sure the Beatles were surprised when they soared to the top of the music charts (especially after they had spent years grinding away with only modest success in Hamburg and Liverpool). When Linus Torvalds released the first version of Linux, he had no way of knowing that it would take off the way it did. That doesn't mean the Beatles don't deserve credit for their music or Torvalds doesn't deserve credit for Linux.
If anything, the failure of Nupedia shows that Sanger and Wales deserve *more* credit, not less. Rather than giving up on the idea of an online encyclopedia after their first attempt, they persevered, retooled and came up with an alternative approach that did work. Of course they had no way of knowing what a success it would become. They got lucky, and a huge community of other people has contributed in various ways. But they still deserve credit for the original innovation.
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SHELDON RAMPTON Research director, Center for Media & Democracy Center for Media & Democracy 520 University Avenue, Suite 227 Madison, WI 53703 phone: 608-260-9713
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Sheldon Rampton wrote:
Brian Brian.Mingus@colorado.edu wrote:
Let's be clear that, especially after the failure of Nupedia to take off, Wikipedia's success was a surprise both to Sanger and Wales. Neither of them expected that this would happen and can therefore not take full or too much credit for it.
The fact that they were surprised by its success does not mean that they don't deserve credit for it. History is full of ideas whose success surprised their creators. I'm sure the Beatles were surprised when they soared to the top of the music charts (especially after they had spent years grinding away with only modest success in Hamburg and Liverpool).
I agree with the above, and in fact consider it a partial refutation of the views I myself floated previously in this thread, as far as it is an accurate characterization of what really happened (which I cannot judge).
When Linus Torvalds released the first version of Linux, he had no way of knowing that it would take off the way it did. That doesn't mean the Beatles don't deserve credit for their music or Torvalds doesn't deserve credit for Linux.
This is a more interesting case though. Minix did not take off. Somewhere along the way, well after the first version of Linux, Torvalds displayed a form of agility that Tannenbaum clearly appears to have lacked. And that was nothing about the initial idea, but all about what followed, each decision along the route.
If anything, the failure of Nupedia shows that Sanger and Wales deserve *more* credit, not less. Rather than giving up on the idea of an online encyclopedia after their first attempt, they persevered, retooled and came up with an alternative approach that did work. Of course they had no way of knowing what a success it would become. They got lucky, and a huge community of other people has contributed in various ways. But they still deserve credit for the original innovation.
This brings to mind another point I have been mulling over...
To what extent were Wales and/or Sanger in fact coming up with an idea out of nothing? And in fact was the idea ever an "alternative" approach (until it was abundantly clear that Nupedia would never pan out), rather than a "complementary" one?
In fact; and I realize I am getting into really bold and speculative territory here, which might get me into some trouble here, if people don't realize I am merely just speculating... how much, if at all, was the creation of the "scratchpad" influenced by the wildly more freewheeling "GNUpedia" project of Richard M. Stallman?
Yours,
Jussi-Ville Heiskanen