Re: Wiki's Expiration Date, Past due?

[RicodJour]

Rarely do I cite Wikipedia, and rarely do I read them, because something

> doesn't seem quite right about that place, can't quite put my finger on it. > But that doesn't stop some from hanging there indefinately, almost > biblically. > > Some of the high level blogs have banned Wiki citations because it creates > an undo hardship on the other posters to continuously and successfully > counter claims that are simply copied and pasted with no research committed. > Even in the public schools Wiki is causing fervor as students use Wiki > *facts* but they lack the horsepower or inclination to substantiate the > claim. > Then it is up to the teacher, using more conventional teaching methods, to > undo the bad info from Wiki. > Wiki is causing people to become lax, stupid, unable to do what needs to be > done, to see the bigger picture. > > Where am I getting this info? > Direct observation of course and from a *new book* that will be released > later this year dealing with the research in new literacies. > Apparently quite a few people are also aware of this thing and have been > observing it and documenting it. > The computer and the internet can be powerful tools for good if used in the > proper manner. > They can also be the exact opposite.

And...? What's your point? That people shouldn't rely on any one single source of information? Agreed.

R

[Michael Bulatovich]

heheh Let's see..what's wrong with Wikipedia...? Aside from the troubling plethora of facts, one ignoramus can't hijack it.

(I once contributed a bit of clean-up editing in it. It was easier to do than I would have thought, and I made a couple of interesting acquaintances. I think it's an absolutely inspiring project.)

[RicodJour]

I stopped doing that after my first correction was 'corrected'. It was a small refinement to the definition of a masonry term. Fairly trivial stuff, but I guess someone felt that they owned that entry.

R

[Michael Bulatovich]

That's a mine field of regional and temporal colloquialisms. For example, what do you call the radial flare at the eaves of a pitched roof in a traditional building?

[++]

I think we all should conribute what we can, a piece of editing, an article, even something that ends with a note that it is waiting verification or editing. It sure beats blogs on subjects that people are using these days as if they had soem basis in fact or verifiability when they are only opinion. The Wiki has that verifiability and every article can be challenged for lack of the same..

[Warm Worm]

As I might have said before on here about Wikipedia, it's new and evolving. Articles can be edited, argued about, accordingly edited and frozen, etc..

Many also come with links, references and bibliography, so, and IOW, when an article is cited here for example, cross-references are often built-in.

But it's up to the intrepid student of life and truth, of course, to click, scroll, read and research, etc. Failing that, I guess one can always stoop to derogative commentary that includes "retarded" and "soiled panties", and see how many dictionary entries it makes, and under which subjects.

[Michael Bulatovich]

You forgot 'pink' and 'girly' meant as slurs. Oh, wait. Wiki's covered that too.

Back around '76 I hatched the idea to make T-shirts with custom messages. The first one said "Machismo Sucks", riffing on the "Disco Sucks" shirts being worn by young guys who couldn't seem to walk with their arms touching their ribs. Another of them was aimed both at all the gay guys on Yonge Street hitting on teenagers like me, and at the knuckle-draggers who think that men have to constantly engage in displays of their masculinity that would look silly even on "Wild Kingdom". It said "Androgynous Heterosexual". (It was the 70's, and the word's usage has changed a bit since then. I was reading Jung in those days.) While still just an idea, a friend and I laughed as we anticipated that some guy would think that 'hetero' meant 'h*mo' and would give me some grief about it..... which actually happened.

I was coming back from a friend's band practice in the burbs, waiting for a bus. Some friend or relative of a another guy in the band was waiting with me, and I was wearing 'the shirt'. The guy says, "Uh, I ain't prejudice or nothin', but, uh, that shirt...are you heterosexual or are you normal?" This was one of those Woody Allen moments where you really needed to break scene and mug to the camera, as God's your only witness.

I let him trip over himself for a while, trying to explain how he "wasn't prejudice or nothin", pretending that I wasn't sure what he was getting at, but eventually relented and filled him in on what the word meant. "Noooo!", he said, greatly relieved, if still a bit wary.

I wore the shirt for a summer and got *one* reaction from another guy who knew exactly why I'd resorted to putting this across my chest. (He's walking up Yonge Street with his girlfriend, totally cracks up, and gives me a big wave.) Most people just looked puzzled or craned their necks to read the text because it wrapped from nearly armpit to armpit.