It’s not on the net, but it’s in the hard copy of today’s The Australian(pg 36), an article entitled ‘Wikipedia references a source of anxiety‘ detailing how “male, crude and given to the concerns of the rich middle class” is the internet, but, not subject to the xanax control of media barons.
The article begins by outlining how Middlebury College in Vermont, in the US, has banned its students from citing Wikepidia and goes on to quote Wikipedia’s founder Jimmy Wales suggesting that the school should also ban the Enclyclopaedia Britannica because all ‘pedias “stand several degrees of separation away fron the events on which they report”.
The article also makes mention of British journal Nature’s critique of the Encylopedia Britannica and Wikipedia which found the two sources comparable as regards reliability.
In short, the article was all about ‘the internet’ suggesting those who attempt to shun it will lose out eventually, because it’s here and it’s influential.
And it all reminded me of a note I received from David Tribe some weeks ago introducing what he described as a
“better alternative to Wikipedia” at http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Main_Page.
It’s all explained in an article ‘Citizendium aims to be better Wikipedia’ which you can read here: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/webguide/2007-03-25-wikipedia-alternative_N.htm
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.