.
REFERENCE: ENCYCLOPEDIAS :
PUBLISHERS PUBLISHING AND PUBLICATIONS: ONLINE AND INTERNET:
Like Boiling a Frog
Like Boiling a Frog
David Runciman
The Wikipedia Revolution by Andrew Lih
London Review of Books
<http://www.lrb.co.uk/v31/n10/runc01_.html>
Epistemic circularity is a fancy way of saying that Wikipedia could prove
too successful for its own good. This is not because entries on the site
are likely to start cannibalising each other and end up reducing the whole
thing to a relativistic soup: Wikipedia is still very good at
distinguishing cross-references within the site from source material
outside it. Instead, the problem may come as the source material itself
starts to ape the wiki-model. Already, academic publishers are grappling
with the problem of open access, which makes increasing numbers of
academic articles freely available on the web (free here meaning not only
free to use but also free to dice, slice and reproduce in another format).
Some of the pressure for this move is coming from the people who fund
academic research and who want to see it disseminated as widely as
possible. But a number of funding bodies (particularly in the sciences)
are also questioning whether it makes sense to wait until research is
completed before publishing it. Why not put earlier draft versions out
there, or even just the initial raw data, and let others see what they can
make of it? This opens up the possibility of collaborative editing online:
authors might publish draft versions of their books and readers could
tinker with them to produce something they are happy with. Of course, the
idea of the permanently updatable book raises the prospect of nightmarish
copyright issues (or more likely the end of copyright altogether), and it
is hardly attractive for academic publishers, since it cuts off their most
obvious revenue stream, which has always been to charge for the finished
product, properly edited in-house. It also raises difficulties for the
idea of verifiability. Wikipedia needs its source material to be
relatively stable, so that its entries can have fixed reference points.
But if the reference points are themselves subject to endless change, then
it becomes much harder to know what counts as verification.
------------------------------------
The complete article may be read at the URL above.
More about and instances of the use of the Wikipedia from Net-Gold
<http://www.google.com/search?q=wikipedia+and+%
22net-gold%22+and+%22temple.edu%22&hl=en&filter=0>
A shorter URL for the above link:
Also of possible interest.
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES SUBJECT GUIDES:
DISABILITIES
http://guides.temple.edu/DISABILITIES
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES SUBJECT GUIDES:
MEDICAL SUBJECT GUIDES:
INFLUENZA SUBJECT GUIDE
http://guides.temple.edu/INFLUENZA
Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@temple.edu
<http://daviddillard.businesscard2.com>
Net-Gold
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/net-gold>
<http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/net-gold.html>
<http://groups.google.com/group/net-gold?hl=en>
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General Internet & Print Resources
<http://guides.temple.edu/general-internet>
COUNTRIES
<http://guides.temple.edu/general-country-info>
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INDOOR GARDENING
<http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/IndoorGardeningUrban/>
Educator-Gold
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Educator-Gold/>
K12ADMINLIFE
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/K12AdminLIFE/>
Nina Dillard's Photographs on Net-Gold
<http://tinyurl.com/36qd2o>
Net-Gold Membership Required to View Photos
Twitter: davidpdillard
Bushell, R. & Sheldon, P. (eds),
Wellness and Tourism: Mind, Body, Spirit,
Place, New York: Cognizant Communication Books.
Wellness Tourism: Bibliographic and Webliographic Essay
David P. Dillard
<http://tinyurl.com/p63whl>
<http://tinyurl.com/ou53aw>
INDOOR GARDENING
Improve Your Chances for Indoor Gardening Success
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/IndoorGardeningUrban/
http://groups.google.com/group/indoor-gardening-and-urban-gardening
http://indoorgardening.jiglu.com/
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