Web2.0 repairs needed
In this article, the founder of Wikipedia admits to serious quality problems to one of the much evangelicasized (is that a word??) services coming out of Web2.0. I’ve questioned Wikipedia for a while now. Sure it is great to get a gist of a particular topic, but rather than gaining real facts, you’ll learn more about the talk points – for example, a search for Tony Blair on wikipedia gives great information of his history, but is riddled with opinionated remarks evaluating the relevance of particular statistics or actions. This has no place within an encyclopaedia and it is hardly an accurate reference at all. Nicholas Carr at Rough Type has some great info on Wikis – his post on the amorality of Web2.0 give examples with results for Bill Gates and Jane Fonda.
But the quality issue highlighted in Wikipedia isn’t just an isolated issue. It’s endemic of many Web2.0 services. As I’ve referred to before, services such as maps, need to be 100% accurate – no way you’re going to keep me as a dedicated customer, if you direct me into a road that is closed. Already, the collaborative and co-operative attitude of Web2.0 is being hijacked by more malicious minded individuals with trackback spam, delicious tag abuse and more. What is required in the Web2.0 world is some sort of quality assurance service and an accountability service. I’m not exactly sure how this would be implemented but it is definitely a need.
The trade-off on Mediocrity
What you can do in order to save projects like the wikipedia from turning into moronic proclamations? One option, as Carr suggested, is to impose some form of centralized control. This is also what is done with open source projects, wherein a lot of …