[WikiEN-l] Do experts have a moral obligation to contribute to Wikipedia?
Ben Kovitz
bkovitz at acm.org
Mon Aug 3 05:10:22 UTC 2009
Charles Matthews wrote:
> How about the simpler comment that if you have expertise in an area of
> public interest, you should consider writing something freely licensed
> and putting it on the Web where someone can find it and help aggregate
> it?
This is a really good point.
Subject-matter expertise is one thing.
Skill with writing is another.
Skill with editing Wikipedia is yet another.
Wikipedia-editing is pretty far removed from subject-matter
expertise. It's more about searching and summarizing and
collaborating. It's closer to being a librarian than any other
occupation. Saying, "Subject-matter experts are morally obliged to
edit Wikipedia" is not too far from saying, "Subject-matter experts
are morally obliged to volunteer at library help-desks."
Ben
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