[WikiEN-l] Microsoft phrase re Google: "The Wikipedia problem"

[Andrew Gray]

On 24/05/07, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 24/05/07, Matthew Brown <morven at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On 5/23/07, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > http://liveserials.blogspot.com/2007/05/uksg-write-up-wikipedia-problem.html
>
> > I don't really get a great idea of what they MEAN by that phtase, though ...
>
> It's entirely unclear ... that public participation ruins their
> business model? In which case look out for them as a threat in the
> future?

I think you're inferring far too much here. This is, really, nothing
at all to do with Microsoft or Google; it's to do with the web and its
users.

The link is talking about a meeting of the UKSG, the United Kingdom
Serials Group, who are a perfectly staid and respectable group of
librarians. It simply so happened that one of the talks was given by a
guy from MS, talking about their products and Google's.

Now, pause for a second. Serials librarians. The context here is
identifying and retrieving information, discussing search tools. Hence
all the statistics abour search groups, content available, etc.

The "Wikipedia problem" - well, talk to half a dozen librarians or
teachers, you'll know exactly what they'd say if you asked what the
"Wikipedia problem" is. It's ubitquitous, it's pervasive, it's not
very good compared to a lot of other stuff out there. It's the same
problem *every other person* who worries about Wikipedia is concerned
with - that peoples behaviour online is to google for something, take
the first result uncritically; if it's something researchable, that
first result is probably served up by us; they'll take it and read it
and never think to check it.

This isn't news. It's the problem we've known about ever since we
became a runaway popular success - we get given far much more
uncritical credence than we deserve, and people are hurting themselves
through it.

-- 
- Andrew Gray
  andrew.gray at dunelm.org.uk