I have been using wikipedia.org for any question I can think of for years now. I guess you could even say that I am somewhat of a walking advertisement for the site, cause when anybody asks me a question I don't know the answer to (which sadly, given the amount of pointless knowledge I have compiled over my short existence, are few and far between) I always say go to wikipedia. And now that I have been looking into how wikis actually work, I can't help but be astounded: That the world finally has a say in what people learn.
And it's not just educators or parents that teach; even an eight year old, given that he is slightly knowledgable in a certain field and has the permission and technical information, can teach the world something. That technology is (probably not by choice, at least from a money making standpoint) loosening the belt a little bit and letting the public control or at least monitor what is being learned. The general public that knows more about Paris Hilton's latest public debacle then html codes is displaying the information that I might use in a fifteen page term paper.
Yet it works. The system of control prevents the same yahoo's that create viruses and destroying my livelihood from upsetting the pure balance that institutions like wikipedia present as a public good for those who choose to use it. I feel that this is a huge step for learning in the world. As I've read, textbooks will soon be obsolete (this is somewhat mentioned in Will's book). What's the need for a textbook that costs eighty dollars and only has a finite amount of information when you can open Mozilla and acquire all the knowledge you could ever possibly need to know? If this is a technological revolution, then call me a rebel, cause I am totally down for change.
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