What to Do With Wikipedia
from InfoLitLand
In his well-thought out argument of the numerous controversies that academics and anti-wikipedians have over the e-resource, William Badke’s really hit the nail on the head. He’s at his best when he specifically references how Wikipedia digs at the academic power structure:
The elites of the academic world have a message for the rest of us: “We are the people who know things. If you want to know things, you have to come to us.” But notice how very analog that is, just as much of academia remains analog and simply has not bought into the amazing power of the digital Information Age…
Wikipedia users appear to be abandoning a world of certainty for an intangible universe made up of half-blown ideas and blatant errors. The problem is, they have not abandoned anything. They have never been part of the analog generation. Wikipedia is their world, and it has met their needs wonderfully.
Here’s how librarians can easily ditch the old rags of a our analog past (okay, fold nicely and stow them away in a cedar closet) and slip into our new digital dancing shoes. Badke cites a perfect example of how to enter into a world of participatory librarianship. I think this is what all of us 2.0 librarians have been waiting for, no?
