W2-4 Reading

1) Wikipedia is both a community and an encyclopedia. Since it launched with its own address in January 15, 2001, it has been tremendously and unbelievably successful, so it's somehow very natural to look at what Wikipedia has had and will have beyond itself.

Based on Godwin's Law of Lazi Analogues, people tend to think the worst of one another, especially on the internet. Then, how do we see if  'good faith', which obviously makes community flourish, does exist in Wikipedia? And how does that affect on Wikipedia's success? What else does it have to be popular like now?

Wikipedia's success is not a first night thing, there is a certain history of how Wikipedia forms as what it looks like now. If we look back to the very first, it started with Otlet's needs to save information and find more easily. It went through many projects including Well's 'World brain', 'Xanadu', 'Gutenberg', and so on throughout the history till finally it came to Wikipedia.

Wikipedia, as a community having texture in it, wants to have more than an educational resource. Also it wants to make collaborative culture and spread it to the world.

2) I am surprised that origin of Wike came from Hawai. I thought it was otherwise. Also I really like what Jimmy Wales, cofounder of Wikipedia, said that "My dream is that someday this encyclopedia will be available for just the cost of printing to schoolhouses across the world, including ‘3rd world’ countries that won’t be able to afford widespread internet access for years. How many African villages can afford a set of Britannicas? I suppose not many…”. Because for me, it really shows how Wikipedia should go, and it seems to be determined already when it was blueprinted. I think that's the reason people don't think Wikipedia is not only an encyclopedia and try to make real community with and in it.

3) I want to know what the consequence of Citizendium was and get better ideas why people like Wikipedia more by comparing Nupedia, which consisted of elites and considered to having more reliable sources, and Wikipdeia. I also want to think further how we can develop Wikipedia to be provided more people, especially, '3rd world'.