Jennifer has kindly asked me to write a few introductory words as part of the launch of the new ‘Politics and Environment Wiki’.
As one who knows bugger-all about Wikis I guess I am eminently qualified… a bit like asking some of the commentators at this blog to say a few words about global warming!
This PEW (Politics and Environment Wiki) will provide an opportunity for interested and knowledgeable persons to actively contribute to the knowledge base concerning various aspects of the environment with special emphasis on the interaction between the political and quasi-political process and the environment.
Since I started reading and contributing, albeit in a small way, to this BLOG it became obvious to Jennifer and others that amongst all the vociferous outbursts, put-downs and in some cases outright nastiness, there is a lot of good information being posted on the site.
PEW will enable this information to be stored, changed and made more accessible to a wider audience. Of course the BLOG will stay and hopefully some of the spin-offs from the BLOG will encompass the identification of subjects worthy for inclusion in PEW and the clarification and development of ideas and thoughts prior to their inclusion.
However for PEW to realize its potential, certain protocols need to be observed.
While the finer details are spelled out in the site, contributors should remember that the underlying premise is that PEW exists for disseminating and storing knowledge and making it available to a wide audience. It is not for displaying one’s knowledge of invective or one-upmanship. It also becomes rather pointless as the articles show no author’s name.
So I guess the ball is at our feet and it’s up to us to make the best of the opportunity provided by Jennifer. So log in and create an account.
Blair
PS A nice little article about Wiki can be found here.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.
We are going to need some main pages I think to get started? We could use the categories from this blog .. or start a fresh? I guess ‘climate change’, ‘forestry’ and ‘whaling’ are possible titles to get going?
Also, there is more information about how to work a wiki here http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Editing .
And thanks Blair!
Wow, what an undertaking. This could potentially draw a lot of visits. Will be very interesting to see how it works.
Congrats to Blair and Jennifer for the initiative.
Since politics and the environment encompass literally everything on this planet, a merciless editor may be able to pare such a Wiki down to the size of, say, the Encyclopedia Brittanica.
Dear Schiller
This blogsite is entitled “Politics and the Environment” and most of the postings and discussions relate to the interaction between politics and the environment eg the current discussion on Macquarie marshes. Submissions to PEW from the public will also I am sure reflect special interest in this area.
No merciless editors are needed. If nobody ie the contributors to PEW, is interested in revising certain subjects no more information gets added.
Blair