From: Soundara Rajan <soundarns@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: Net-Gold@yahoogroups.com
To: David Dillard <net-gold@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [Net-Gold] Online encyclopaedia: The wisdom of crowds
Online encyclopaedia: The wisdom of crowds
By Jimmy Wales
As online communities spread across the world, Wikipedias
knowledge-sharing can free us from poverty and ignorance.
The world is rich with languages and cultures, and because of this, some
contemporary thinkers doubt the possibility of any genuine collaboration
in pursuit of truth. Humans are portrayed as irrational captives to their
background and identity, unable to be objective. I do not share this view.
If we were to take seriously the ideas of those who view all human
activity through a lens of irrationalism and conflict, we would imagine
that all of this would be impossible. But my experiences have given me
great optimism optimism grounded in direct observation of the facts of
reality that the vast majority of people around the world are comfortable
with the idea of working hard to present facts objectively.
I advocate for the value of a universal encyclopedia which is accessible
to everyone and which rationally puts forward the basic facts about
various arguments and controversies in such a manner that newcomers to an
issue can understand what the disagreement is about. Don't tell me what to
think, don't feed me one side of the story; give me actual facts and I
will think for myself to decide. And I respect you as a human being enough
to return the favour.
You can read the entire article by Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia,
carried by 'The Guardian', at
<http://deccanherald.com/Content/Jun252008/editpage2008062475138.asp>
_______________________________________
N.S. Soundara Rajan, Mysore, India
Eutilities, CyberStop, Enews, WebWatch
http://www.deccanherald.com
Internet Resource Discussion Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/net-gold
MYSOORU LITERACY TRUST (MLT)
Promoting literacy among the poor
________________________________________
Each individual has the responsibility and the creative acumen
to take control of his/her society - Noam Chomsky
Also just posted by Soundara Rajan
TECHNOLOGY: Real-time info on mobiles
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Net-Gold/message/24051>
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