In Kittrain's "The Lessons of Wikipedia", he starts by explaining an experiment taking place in Germany: take away all traffics lights and signs and see how the drivers react. The experiment itself has proven a success; the original proposition to trust people to pay more attention with less consequences has giving drivers the initiative to drive with more caution. Rather than relying on other drivers to follow the rules of the road, they are individually following driver etiquette, and not being assholes on the road. I'm guessing this has caused, not only the number of motor vehicle accidents, but also the debilitating symptom of Road Rage, to be reduced dramatically.
He then segway's into the discussion of a public run website called Wikipedia. We've all heard of it before, because our teachers and professors demand it to never be used in academic research or sited for an academic paper. Why do they loath it with the power of a thousand suns? Some students say it's because the website does the professors job without having to sit through a meaningless and uneventful lecture. While that may be true, I think the most popular reason is because the website has been created to be a socially edited blog sans the comments. Anyone can create an account and add articles, make corrections to previous ones, or even change an entire article based on their own research (research in the simplest form of the word. suffice it to say that the ones changing entire articles have been known as pranksters just to stir up some trouble).
Many precautions have been taken to avoid edits that are incorrect or misinformation. In fact, there is even a list of all the edits a page has ever been through and the authors that made them. Although, Wikipedia promotes those who make mistakes, because those making them are bold enough to attempt it. There are a team of editors and admins to fix and correct any mistake they find, so its pretty much a free for all information database. Wikipedia pushes the statement that the rules they set forth are not 'set in stone', meaning the rules have exceptions and can even change if need be. They say that the rules and substance of the website must evolve as we do; in order for it to grow, it must be moldable.
Wikipedia is an open encyclopedia without road signs, relying on the integrity of its subscribers to make her flourish. There are some that want to bend and break the rules, but the vast majority of the population wants to just inform others, and open the expanse of knowledge we all hold within us. I'm sorry that all the other professors and teachers are jealous of its teaching capability; it's not the websites fault for being so popular.
-D
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