Image via CrunchBase
I haven’t experienced this in Wikipedia since it only allows ‘academics’. But I’m a contributor for a wikimedia site and I’m starting to get irritated by volunteer editors. I mean, if more than half of your original piece which you’re sure is acceptable gets edited by different scrutinizers, wouldn’t you be (thanks for the sociologists who opened up that editing issue).
There is a solution for stopping those editing wars: Authors should have the option of accepting the volunteer revisions or rejecting it
‘The Internet is a wonderland for sociologists, and one of the richest areas of study is Wikipedia, with its years of open collaboration and communication archived for posterity. But with collaboration comes conflict, and the “edit wars” that embroil hot Wikipedia topics are dissected in detail in a new paper by researchers in Budapest.
‘Though the study does not make for exciting reading, there are some interesting revelations about the way such conflicts run their course, and the people who make it all happen…’
http://www.technolog.msnbc.msn.com/technology/technolog/wikipedia-editorial-warzone-says-study-838793
Turing, the Original Hacker
Most bios of geeks are not very interesting. Alan Turing’s on the contrary is very interesting
‘Turing’s life was one of astounding highs and devastating lows. While his wartime codebreaking saved thousands of lives, his own life was destroyed when he was convicted for homosexuality. But the tragedy of his story should not overshadow his legacy. Turing’s insight laid the foundations of the computer age. It’s no exaggeration to say he’s a founding father of every computer and Internet company today.
‘Turing’s breakthrough came in 1936 with the publication of his seminal paper “On Computable Numbers” (PDF). This introduced two key concepts, “algorithms” and “computing machines”—commonplace terms today, but truly revolutionary in the 1930’s:…’
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/06/tribute-to-turing-father-of-modern.html
http://bigthink.com/humanizing-technology/in-defense-of-life-alan-turing-the-original-hacker
A Real Internet Currency: Kurrenci
You can buy this digital currency using foreign money of your choice and it can be used to make purchases anywhere on the planet.
You can use your bank account, credit or debit card to buy Kurrenci online.
https://kurrenci.com/visitorpage.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2f
I talked with one of my co-workers a few years back. He’s a wikipedia contributor with editorial privilege, and he verified that this frequently occurs. He’s very careful about submitting articles and edits there to protect his status. Wikipedia does pay attention, and does boot those who abuse it. But, as you can guess, it’s difficult with such a massive amount of content. Fortunately, it has less effect on technical subjects than on political and social ones. Wikipedia is still a great place for research. You just have to keep in mind that it’s not the only one, and it will contain opinions by its subject matter experts. But what doesn’t?
I just hope that Wales finally do something more so now that even corruption has crept in.
Reblogged this on Billy Moses.
Hi Billy. Thanks!
I visited your site but the reblog isn’t visible. Some kind of server error.