On Thursday (the 27th), I had to give a presentation about “The Semantic Web”. The paper is now online. This “technology briefing” was part of my obligation as a first year student to present to members of industry. The general idea is that this will help me learn how to present material for a business audience, as well as work on writing papers. I think the presentation went relatively well, and since it was a topic that I was interested in, the task wasn’t boring.
After my briefing, we had Dr. Christian Wagner present some material on wikis and their potential in industry. The presentation was actually thought provoking and interesting, because Dr. Wagner was talking about something that I follow on a leisurely basis.
However, I think the seminar that we had the next day with the doctoral students and some of the professors was by far the best part. Dr. Wagner talked about blogs, and in his presentation he mentioned big names such as Technorati and Weblogs, Inc. (recently acquired by AOL). I had always thought that there was a certain disconnect between research and reality when it came to blogs, but all of the information was very current. If anything, it showed that research on wikis and blogs IS a possible option for me. Most of the research I’ve run into since I’ve started this program has seemed a bit dry, but thinking about researching this material gets me a little excited. Whether or not I will actually do anything with this remains to be seen, but I will definitely continue following this area to see where it’s going.
Oh, and I’m blogging this because the professors said no one should have time to…well guess what? I did!
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You might interested a recent article questioning the value of wikis. A short summary I wrote on my blog (http://ecultureweek.internetreputation.com):
An expert who once praised the value of wikis, collaborative websites that allow anyone to write and edit, is now questioning their value.
Dr. Gary E. Gorman, editor of the peer reviewed journal Online Information Review, argues in a recent editorial that wikis are plagued with three major flaws:
*They can serve as “vehicles for one-upmanship among competing academics”
*They can serve as “the focal point for a variety of “head cases” both within and outside academe”
*They can serve as “a place for the most unformed and juvenile views to be aired”.
Because of their ease of use, wikis have been trumpeted as the future of internet communities. Gorman, however, is skeptical. He notes that rather than being an “information democracy”, wikis are chaotic in nature and the input from fellow wiki users is often not constructive.
He points out that the even established wiki publications are sometimes filled with inaccuracies and can confuse issues. He cites examples where, “users have even deliberately inserted errors into Wikipedia entries to test how quickly users can detect and remove them.” The result has been than in less popular entries, errors have remained uncorrected for long periods.
The article can be found in the journal Online Information Review, Volume 29, Number 3 2005 pp. 225-226.
Why Wiki Works
Why Wiki Works Not
The same is true for ANY published material, no matter the source. If anything I would argue that this issue is less severe with Wikis as there is a greater chance the error will be corrected.
Of course, sometimes the insertion of false information is a standard practice. Search for “Copyright Trap” for more on that.
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