Re: [tlug] You are Not a Gadget, by Jaron Lanier

[Edward Middleton <edward.middleton@example.com>]

On 04/01/2010 11:42 AM, Charles Muller wrote:
> Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
> 
>> Charles Muller writes:
>>> Lanier discusses the technical and cultural problems that can grow out
>>> of poorly considered digital design and warns that our financial
>>> markets and sites like Wikipedia, Facebook, and Twitter are elevating
>>> the ~wisdom~ of mobs and computer algorithms over the intelligence and
>>> judgment of individuals.
>>
>> Elitism.  All that's happening here is that peasants have been
>> empowered with broadcast power equal to that of the elite.  OK, so if
>> you want to find some nuggets, you have to sift through a lot of
>> dross.  

I think its more of a change of guard, effectively spamming the web is
still an artform ;)

> I guess my strong positive reaction to Lanier's critique--especially 
> that of Wikipedia--is based mainly on its resonance with my own 
> experience. My central project during the past fifteen years has been 
> that of the creation of an online (TEI-based) reference work, the 
> Digital Dictionary of Buddhism. This is a scholarly collaborative 
> project, wherein all users must contribute some way or another, and 
> all entry nodes are fully accredited with <sense resp="author's name">.

Open access services like Wikipedia become more valuable because they
are referenced and interlinked.  This also raises there ranking with
search engines.

> Unfortunately, since the development of Wikipedia, we continually find 
> content from our work being anonymously aggregated into Wikipedia 
> without citation,

If you are the only source for the content then the content probably
doesn't meet Wikipedia listing guidelines[1].

> All articles must strive for verifiable accuracy: unreferenced
> material may be removed, so please provide references.


> ... Wikipedia entry always comes to the top of the page
> in the web search.

If your content is password protected it isn't going to be indexed by by
search engines.

Edward

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Five_pillars