Networks, Wikipedia and objectivity
If I were Glenn Reynolds, I'd be a little miffed at this entry in Wikipedia.
The non-hierarchical nature of Wikipedia -- and really, of the Internet in general -- has its drawbacks at times. But I don't think this annoyance -- where there are no editors or centralized moderation structure -- is necessarily a flaw in the concept. Rather, I think it's more a flaw in the pervasive ideology that there is no objectivity, no truth -- that it is impossible to report facts without bias. There's a reason for those exercises we used to have in English class, where you have to evaluate whether a statement is fact or opinion -- because effective communication is dependent on being able to determine the difference.
If the network doesn't understand that sites like Wikipedia are supposed to be a repository of facts, and the members of the network don't police the community to ensure that those differences are respected, then it will deteriorate into a useless resource.
Posted by Matt at January 6, 2005 4:28 PM
