[Foundation-l] FYI: Wikipedia, Open Access and Cognitive Virology

[William Pietri]

On 05/15/2010 06:22 AM, Klaus Graf wrote:
> So there we are: OA's biggest canard and nemesis, being daily,
> cumulatively, canonized and amplified by Wikipedia, riding the recursive
> tide of its own notability and notoriety (as an infectious virus,
> cheerfully propagated by the denizens of Wikipedia).
>
> I expect that this posting will elicit stout defenses by Wiki-Warriors, [...]
>    

Thanks for sharing this, Klaus. It was interesting to read.

I certainly enjoyed the spirited prose, and as a fiend for good names, I 
expect that I'd fully agree with the diagnosis of the root problem that 
brought forth such a lovely rant.

But at the end, I still have a, "Yeah, so?" reaction. I feel like the 
essence of the complaint is that contrary to what the authors want, 
other people persist in acting as they see fit. I have some sympathy, as 
most people signally fail to do what I want, too. But I don't see any 
obvious solutions.

Heck, I'd love it if our articles were based on pure, uncut Objective 
Truth, with no need to futz around with reliable sources and NPOV. 
Everybody would. But that stuff's expensive, and the only way I know to 
get that is by paying a horde of academics to do their thing. And even 
with all of them beavering away, we only get a trickle of the stuff, not 
the torrent we need to fill an encyclopedia.

Of course, if somebody, those folks included, think they can build a 
better encyclopedia, I'd encourage them to try. And I don't mean that in 
a snotty way; it would be useful to Wikipedia to have some serious 
competition. Just this week at work I was reviewing a competitor's new 
product, and it was both scary and thrilling, prodding us toward better 
work. It would be great for Wikipedia, and especially great for 
humanity, if somebody were actually nipping at our heels.

William