Wikinformation

And together we,
Will forever be
High Fidelity
Definitely
Switching the melody
Can it be the brothers that you rarely see?
They got together for the better
Whether him or me

-Jurassic 5 off the album
Power in Numbers

I found this weeks reading thrilling. The idea that an online community welcoming user input could amass a collection of information "ten times bigger than Encyclopedia Britannica and roughly the same in accuracy" (Tapscott, D. & Williams, A. (2006). Wikinomics (Intro & cap. 1). New York: Portfolio.) to me, is mind blowing.

But at the same time, it makes perfect sense. How much does it cost to send someone to Togo, do research, write about it and have it published? On the other hand, how much does it cost to have someone living in Togo write about there country in their free time? - It costs nothing, and thats exactly whats going on everyday.

I cant help but think of ants, those ants you see on Animal Planet, all working together, hauling leaves, digging tunnels and achieving together what could never done alone.

Cheesy quote time!

"Many hands make light work"
John Heywood

"Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it"
Dwight Eisenhower

What we are witnessing with this Wiki information generation is phenomenal. It is the decentralization of information control, and with the right amount of motivation, self regulation and input, it could change the way we learn, share and grow in ways we never would have thought possible, even 5 or 10 years ago.


Discussion

Who has edited a Wiki before this semester? Which and why?

Have you ever encountered a glaring error on a Wiki? Did you do anything about it?

What sort of information, if any, should be kept off line?

Is there a point when we could become too dependent on Wiki sources over traditional sources of information?