04-19-2008, 12:35 AM
Certainly, it's not a 'source' and should never be relied upon or, heaven forfend, cited, but it can get you started in a field you know nothing about, giving you the terms to search for more consistent & reliable internet sites, some of which cite actual sources.
Few fora I have seen are as critical of evidence as this one.
Another phenomenon of the data revolution is that plenty of badly researched pap is out there on paper: outdated, shoddy, biased or refuted material lurks on the second hand shelves and GoogleBooks: in lieu of an academic community to filter out the sweepings, an active 'virtual' community willing to question published authors can help separate the chaff from the wheat.
The fundamental dichotomy of Wikipedia is that the aspiration is to create a reference work which can be re-written with no justification, on any pretext by any idiot. The primary characterisitc of a reference work is to be reliable.
How popular would surgery be at a hospital that prepped the patient and then asked the first passerby on the street to start cutting?
I think it would do more good in the world if Wikipedia devoted the space and time to something creative rather than reductive: concensus-based poetry, art, fiction, music, film, theology, philosophy, social policy or economics. Anything which was essentially made-up rather than laid-down :wink:
Few fora I have seen are as critical of evidence as this one.
Another phenomenon of the data revolution is that plenty of badly researched pap is out there on paper: outdated, shoddy, biased or refuted material lurks on the second hand shelves and GoogleBooks: in lieu of an academic community to filter out the sweepings, an active 'virtual' community willing to question published authors can help separate the chaff from the wheat.
The fundamental dichotomy of Wikipedia is that the aspiration is to create a reference work which can be re-written with no justification, on any pretext by any idiot. The primary characterisitc of a reference work is to be reliable.
How popular would surgery be at a hospital that prepped the patient and then asked the first passerby on the street to start cutting?
I think it would do more good in the world if Wikipedia devoted the space and time to something creative rather than reductive: concensus-based poetry, art, fiction, music, film, theology, philosophy, social policy or economics. Anything which was essentially made-up rather than laid-down :wink:
Salvianus: Ste Kenwright
A member of Comitatus Late Roman Historical Re-enactment Group
My Re-enactment Journal
~ antiquum obtinens ~
A member of Comitatus Late Roman Historical Re-enactment Group
My Re-enactment Journal
~ antiquum obtinens ~
