It’s early 2001, and the dot-com bubble has burst, but the spirit of the Web is still very much alive. A new project called Wikipedia has just launched, and on the surface, it sounds like a recipe for disaster. It’s an encyclopedia where anyone can edit any page. No editors, no peer review, just a "WikiWiki" system and the hope that people will be helpful rather than destructive.
The Power of the Wiki
The word "Wiki" comes from the Hawaiian word for "quick." Developed by Ward Cunningham in the mid-90s, it’s a simple system for collaborative editing. Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger originally tried a more traditional expert-led project called Nupedia, but it was too slow. Wikipedia is their attempt to use the speed of the wiki to build a massive knowledge base.
<!-- The beauty of the Wiki is the simple markup -->
== The History of Computing ==
The '''history of computing''' is longer than you might think...
[[Charles Babbage]] was a pioneer in the field.
The "Wisdom of the Crowd"
Critics are already saying that Wikipedia will be full of errors, bias, and vandalism. And they're right-it will. But the theory is that for every person who tries to break something, there will be ten people who want to fix it. It’s an exercise in "stigmergy"-coordinated action through the environment.
Looking Ahead
If Wikipedia succeeds, it will be the greatest repository of human knowledge in history, accessible to anyone with an internet connection for free. It’s a radical experiment in digital democracy. As a developer, I find the underlying technology fascinating, but the social engineering is even more impressive. We're about to find out if the "Neutral Point of View" (NPOV) can survive the chaos of the open internet. I’m rooting for the crowd.
Aunimeda develops websites and web applications for businesses - corporate sites, e-commerce, portals, and custom platforms.
Contact us to discuss your web project. See also: Web Development, E-commerce Development