Answering the questions about Wikipedia

Well, my thoughts were churning along so nicely that I forgot to answer the assignment's questions!

Did the video change my opinion or reinforce it about Wikipedia?  Yes, it certainly reinforced it.  Understanding that they do have an official volunteer unit that polices the sites, along with hearing their stated goal to be unbiased and accurate, made me think that Wikpedia is a very valuable source of information.  Also, I have always been one to think "many heads make less thinking", so the idea of gathering hundreds of different people's knowledge about one particular subject into one place fits right into my ideal schema of life.

Hmmm.....radical encyclopedias vs. stodgy ones.  I chose to interpret that Wale's is saying that an encyclopedia should be on the trending edge; easily updated; not afraid to address new issues and ideas, rather than thinking of it in the traditional "radical" perspective, which to me, means "fringe", "unreliable", "possibly mentally unstable".  In the former sense, I totally agree with him.  A printed Encyclopedia is only as accurate as the date is was printed, which is why Encyclopedia companies are always coming out with new editions.  It's also why the older editions are so amusing to read.  I think that the flexibility and speed of the internet makes Wale's concept of a "radical" encyclopedia very doable, but if it was printed in book form, it would be cost-prohibitive.  

As I stated before, to me, a library is any collection of data/knowledge/information - whatever you want to label it - that is organized.  In that sense, certainly, on-line libraries are a fabulous and much-needed concept.  However, in the traditional American mindset, a library is a collection of books (and maybe other information or entertainment sources, such as DVDs and CDs), housed within a brick-and-mortar building.  In that sense, libraries have no hope of being "radical" (or easily updated or on the trendy edge), because they don't have enough money, and they have too much competition in the cloud realm.

And finally, I like Wale's policies about truth, neutrality, and objectivity.  I'm sure there are mistakes made, but he has a good overarching sense of informational democracy.  I'm glad he's in charge; I hope he makes plans for an appropriate successor.

Teresa