Tech-Talk: Workin It With Wikipedia
Thursday, July 21, 2005
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The rapid spread of cell phone cameras is having a surprising impact tonight in the war on terror. British police have called on Londoners to submit mobile phone images to help them investigate today`s explosions in the British capital.
As part of its big round of layoffs, Hewlett-Packard is sending pink slips to 70 of the 700 employees of its world famous research labs. Three projects are being cut in Palo Alto, one in Cambridge, more evidence of the end of an era at HP.
Some interesting news for a music industry scared of iPods and their brethren. The number of digital music tracks legally, that`s right, legally downloaded tripled in the first half of the year. That`s according to the International Federation of Phonographic Industries.
If you have a Sony Playstation two and a wi-fi network in your house, a software update will soon let you use your Playstation to surf the web. Sony says the free update will be available for download next week.
Some people are afraid of products which are free, but you would be making a big mistake if you avoided the Wikipedia, one of the most remarkable creations on the Internet. A wiki is a web site users can both contribute to and edit. "Wiki wiki" means "quick" in Hawaiian. The Wikipedia is an encyclopedia with more than 1.6 million articles under active development in over 120 languages. The site gets more than 60 million hits per day.
The Wikipedia`s article about itself admits that since anyone can edit the content, inaccuracy and vandalism is a problem. But the community of users polices that sort of activity so the content tends to be self-repairing. Volunteer editors strive to make sure the articles are objective. In addition to the usual encyclopedia topics, the Wikipedia contains a wide array of social and cultural entries.
The Wikipedia is not a refereed academic publication, but it is a fascinating example of collaborative development and social interaction growing live, virtually before your eyes on the Internet.
Note: this also appeared on a Nightly Business Report broadcast on July 21, 2005.
