8.01.2008

Wikis, Lolcats, and the internet itself: A paean to collaboration


Paean: An exultant song of praise.

I've been thinking about collaboration lately. I've realized that, while there are many academics in praise of collaboration, the internet does little enough praising of itself. Sure, we all know about Wikipedia, we all speak out vaguely in praise of it, but, like the criticism, I find so much of the praise to be so blandly general. To say that "collaboration works" or that "Wikipedia has so much more information" or isn't all that inaccurate is to ender a world of ideals, and I love ideals, but I also love experience. I love those experiences that take my breath away. So, every once in a while, I'm going to post something that shows just how a group fights the rampant stupidity of humanity, an extremely well-written Wiki, maybe one where collaboration has been done right, maybe just in a hilarious lolcat. Because understanding how these things are done right is an important step towards understanding collaboration, which is so key to all learning today, from the traditional academies and their peer-reviewed research, to wikis and blogs.

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