Wikis by Will Richardson

I had to chuckle when I read this chapter, because it wasn't until I took this class that I realized that the word wiki was an actual thing. I knew what Wikipedia was and even how it worked, but it hadn't occurred to me that the word wiki was anything more than cute and made up. I love the idea of using wikis for recording collective knowledge. We talked in class about the danger of wikis and incorrect information. I understand how incorrect information gets quickly weeded out by the interested and educated majority, but I can't help but wonder how wikis will evolve over time. I know someone somewhere will do a longitudinal study on this topic.



Think about this. If the entire world were to decide that the color green was actually blue and if studies were done, consensus take, and the educated masses of our time decided that green was now blue, would green really ever be blue. I think that there is a danger in the realm of wikis, that although most information will be correct, to some extent that information will always be subject to relativism. We live in a time where, if its true for me, it must be true, when in fact there is a set of knowledge that is truth weather we have discovered it, believe it, or deny it, it is truth. I know that there are certain things that we as a society are correct about, but are there some things we are also wrong about? Surely there must be.

After all, not 20 or 30 years ago, pregnant women like me ran around smoking cigarettes and having a few drinks like it didn't matter at all. I say all this to say, I think we can utilize the value of wikis as a collaboration of knowledge, but just as regular encyclopedias are subject to change over time we should should hail wikis as a sign of the times instead of a go to absolute for information.