Response to Wikipedia Interview
From Mod Mania
In response to the interview with Mr. Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales...
"They'd modified it to make a website in more of a magazine-style format with a daily headline thing." Page 2. It's interesting that there aren't more of these online magazines. Sure there are quite a few out there but in relation to printed magazines in news stands it's a miniscule percentage. There are no solid statistics on the number magazines printed in paper format every day that I could find (possibly because the number is constantly changing) But we can all guess it would be in excess of billions around the world. In a world becoming increasingly aware of their ecological footprint, this is quite a concern. In my opinion there are some printed traditions which could and should continue such as the daily newspaper and book publishing. Both of these industries have more of an opportunity to focus on environmentally friendly printing methods and materials. Magazines however, rely on high gloss colour printing often using adhesives to attach a lipstick or perfume sample to their covers. Magazines like 'pedestrian' a local brisbane magazine, have gone completely digital, handing out dvd's to shops and leaving them around the CBD. They claim this is an inexpensive method of publishing and it also allows advertisers to submit motion ads rather than a full page spread in Vogue, which is more expensive anyway... If magazine's are concerned they will loose customers and valuable dollars by going online, they simply need to charge a membership fee paid each time the consumer wishes to read a new release magazine. That even allows for readers to participate in the magazine competitions and letters to the editor instantly, rather than through the post.
"For healthy, open societies we need broad public participation." Page 2. This statement immediately made me thing of America and the way they had practically destroyed this possibility. Broad public participation has been thwarted by the American election polls. By not making voting mandatory, citizens have lost that pre election drive to dig up dirt on sleazy politicians. During Australia's election jut recently, it was hard to go on a dinner date or catch up for a Sunday BBQ without the guests splitting down the middle and getting riled up on politics. Everyone had something to contribute to this conversation because they had to know, it was the law. Now that the election is over Sunday BBQ's have guests doing the same thing except over so you think you can dance. This, I fear, is what American BBQ's consist of all year round every year. There is no need for citizens to go digging for information because they don't discuss it with their friends and relatives the way we do. I know I have just made several large accusations and please feel free to pummel me with pro-american abuse. I look forward to pummelling you back again.
"We need safe spaces for people to have dialogue about important issues that we don't really get right now from the mainstream media." Page 2. ...The interview refers to the safe space as the internet... Mr Wales is quite right in this observation. There are some TV shows that i know of in Australia which try to accommodate this such as Difference of Opinion on ABC once a week. Other media formats, especially written and published ones, have a slower participation rate mainly due to postage and physical page space to print everyone's view. You also need to have at least 3 different articles from 3 different sources to get a decent spread of knowledge on one topic. Unfortunately, "Hollywood" has made the internet unsafe thanks to their crime shows featuring cyber preditors and FBI style investigations with plots based on internet spies. People no longer feel the degree of privacy in cyber world that was once a possibility. This is partly for safety reasons but as in all circumstances, one element tends to fall behind.
"If I start writing something online and I don't have time to finish it, then it allows someone else to easily pick up and carry on with it in some other way." Page 2. I have used this as an opportunity for an experiment, please follow this link to view a research topic I started writing about and feel free to take it anywhere you like! http://www.openobject.org/modmania/Clothing
"So fear of failure isn't part of the equation?" Page 3. Fear should never be part of the equation, once you involve fear in your decision making how are you or anyone else affected by your fear, going to progress? I'm not talking about turning down a dare because you're too scared to face certain death at the bottom of a cliff, I mean it in the way it is effecting more and more people psychologically. Politicians are using methods known as 'Fear Campaigns' to herd populations in their desired direction. If the community turns away from speculative fear we can make decisions with a clear head and be influenced by other emotions like instinct.
"For me the main focus of my interest right now is figuring out how we can help the growth o Wikipedia in smaller languages." Page 3. Mr Wales touches on a huge issue in this statement. Resources determine what we can learn and how far we can go as much as we try to deny it. Without schools children can still learn, but not to the same degree as children with pens, paper and a qualified teacher, that of course depends on subject matter i.e. mathematics vs. bush skills. Mankind have created this fantastic learning tool in the internet and the sooner we can open this gateway to more people the better opportunities those people will have.
PLEASE ADD YOUR COMMENTS!
Sophie Bain. 23.04.08.
