Garry’s Rambles

Well I’ve had a good break from posting and I need to get back into a rhythm so here goes!!

It was great travelling with Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikpedia, who was very unaffected by his fame during our first seminar series in late April. He was extremely obliging in responding to the media frenzy and the Chaser’s War on Everything stunt was great. Heard in Sydney that the media thought Jimmy and the organisers were angry about the stunt. Let me tell you that we were extremely honored that they targeted us and Jimmy knew in advance that it was happening and I told him to roll with it. So again the media were trying to beat up a story that was simply wrong. I even have a photo with Andrew after they left. (I had to otherwise my kids wouldn’t have believed it!!)

Mark Pesce’s comparison of the entry for kangaroo in Wikipedia, Britannica, Citizendium, Conservapedia and Unencyclopedia was priceless (have a look in each one), but was also making the point that we need to be careful about truth in a world where publishing of content is collaborative. Wikipedia though is an example of how this kind of peer production has produced an encyclopedia that in many cases is better than traditional encyclopedias….but the point was made that Wikipedia is an excellent starting point for kids to begin their research…and good practice says you always use more than one source for research.

Three other key points that Jimmy made were:

• Gatekeeper vs accountability model for software design.
• Loss of control in a collaborative environment - risk management rather than risk aversion.
• Neutrality emerges with diversity and trust.

The podcast of Jimmy’s speech in Melbourne can be found on the education.au website. Enjoy!!

Garry