Gadgets & Tech – Interesting essay on all these socially participant bits floating about the web these days, like Wikipedia, the reading of which the author likens to "reading the bible closely."
Fabienne:
I contacted the author Jaron Lanier with some follow up questions regarding this essay. Here are the questions I sent to him with his responses:
Fabienne: I am interested to find out how one might improve the social bookmarking phenomena. Do you think that by adding real editors as human filters to what you call "Consensus Web filters" is enough to change an aggregator into a useful source for information? What other factors, besides having human editors, make Boing Boing interesting compared to an aggregator?
Jaron Lanier: I never used the term "Consensus Web filters." How to do things better is a hard question, but I identify many internet things I like in the essay, like myspace, boing boing, cool tools, google...
Fabienne: You write in your essay that "...Google News is for the moment better funded and enjoys a more secure future than most of the rather small number of fine reporters around the world who ultimately create most of its content." I agree that content creation and significant writing is lost in the buzz of the hive mind. What, in your opinion, can the individual content creator do to further his or her position?
Jaron Lanier: The current answers are to cling to "old media" as I do with my discover column, to sell ads, which boing boing does, or to treat content creation as a loss leader to sell lecture bookings or something else that can't be replicated in a file- I think we need more answers to supplement this meager assortment- wish I had them at this time.
Fabienne: Some would argue that the authors of Wikipedia are public because each person's profile is stored in the system along with the edits and re-edits each entry has survived. Why then, in your opinion, are the authors of Wikipedia writing in what you describe as an "anonymous, faux-authoritative" voice? Do you think the individuals who write and edit the entries of Wikipedia have been influenced by reading too many encyclopedias?
Jaron Lanier: Your information about the wikipedia is incorrect- you can edit without placing any personal information online, and in fact one of the interesting current disputes involves people who don't like the wikipedia attempting to "out" editors who expect to remain anonymous. "Reading too many encyclopedias" is a weird idea- you might be spoofing me- if you are on the level, then the answer is "no."
Fabienne: If any of our readers have more questions for Mr. Lanier, please post them in the comments below.
2006-06-06 21:36:50
There is an interesting thing happening... folks who do not have wikipedia bio page believe in it, folks who do have a wikipedia bio page don\'t believe in it. Why? Simple... there is nothing like seeing first hand errors and troll behavior to make you understand the limitations of the madness of the masses.
[Note: I had more to say, but we limited the comments to 500 characters... that might be low folks!] The New Netscape is designed to take the best of both the individual and hive minds... that is why we program the Dynamic Lead up top (the DL--the thing with the folders), and why on certain stories we put in the \"Netscape Anchor Commentary.\" Also, the Anchor Chat is to add context to the hive minds choices.
Wow. A lame interview (you misquoted Mr. Lanier once, and misinterpreted him twice) followed up by a back-and-forth comment stream between you and Jason. (Consisting of fairly vapid 'observations'.) I understand the need to have some 'there' there for the product launch, but maybe y'alls'd be better off letting the community start to speak a little. Even if we're stupid, it'll be more interesting than this antiseptic jerk-fest.
his PC and logs in to his law school located in Los Angeles, 2,400 miles away from his place, But he likes his time this way and he is one of the adults who have learning online. Some take online courses as full time schooling. http://web-degrees.us/?p=3
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amazing story... what we\'re doing with Netscape is exactly what he\'s looking for: an editorial voice to balance the hive mind. Our Anchors are the balance to the limitations of the crowd--and vica versa!