Comments on: WikiGnomes Win The Day http://www.raggedclown.com/2006/08/05/wikignomes-win-the-day/ It's just a shadow you're seeing that he's chasing... Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:23:50 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Kevin http://www.raggedclown.com/2006/08/05/wikignomes-win-the-day/#comment-99 Kevin Wed, 09 Aug 2006 16:21:02 +0000 http://www.raggedclown.com/?p=92#comment-99 Wikipedia - in common with much of the American media - has this bias that there is an objective truth out there and that their role is to simply document it. If you just follow the rules of NPOV, all will be well. But there is no such thing as NPOV when you leave the narrow domains of science. Even such dry 'facts' as geography are subjective. Maybe they should strive for a multi-POV standard? I am willing to bet that the majority of WikiGnomes share a very distinctive political outlook and that one of the coming tests for Wikipedia, as it enters the mainstream, will be whether it can accommodate Gnomes with different political a outlook. Wikipedia - in common with much of the American media - has this bias that there is an objective truth out there and that their role is to simply document it. If you just follow the rules of NPOV, all will be well. But there is no such thing as NPOV when you leave the narrow domains of science. Even such dry ‘facts’ as geography are subjective. Maybe they should strive for a multi-POV standard?

I am willing to bet that the majority of WikiGnomes share a very distinctive political outlook and that one of the coming tests for Wikipedia, as it enters the mainstream, will be whether it can accommodate Gnomes with different political a outlook.

]]> By: Aaron Rhodes http://www.raggedclown.com/2006/08/05/wikignomes-win-the-day/#comment-97 Aaron Rhodes Wed, 09 Aug 2006 15:57:15 +0000 http://www.raggedclown.com/?p=92#comment-97 The sad truth is, Wikipedia is no more or less factual than the avarage school textbook. We all have this ingrained belief that schoolroom textbooks are irrifutable fact which in turn influences what most people believe is true. Wikipedia may even be more factual than a textbook as it is moderated globally (limited of course by people who speak english, ha ha!) and is not governed by the political or financial buying decisions of a particular school. I have heard teachers regard Wikipedia with scorn, mostly because a bibliography containing a wikipedia link is not concrete, but also (ignorantly!) because it is not "fact". We should be skeptical of all literary resources equally and respect that the popular opinion is always what is recorded in all mediums. The sad truth is, Wikipedia is no more or less factual than the avarage school textbook. We all have this ingrained belief that schoolroom textbooks are irrifutable fact which in turn influences what most people believe is true. Wikipedia may even be more factual than a textbook as it is moderated globally (limited of course by people who speak english, ha ha!) and is not governed by the political or financial buying decisions of a particular school. I have heard teachers regard Wikipedia with scorn, mostly because a bibliography containing a wikipedia link is not concrete, but also (ignorantly!) because it is not “fact”. We should be skeptical of all literary resources equally and respect that the popular opinion is always what is recorded in all mediums.

]]>