This lesson prompted me to think about the collaborative ways we collect and organize information. One of the most prominent in my mind is Wikipedia. Prior to its popularity and eventual inclusion into search engines, quickly finding information on the web was a bit more of a tedious task. Even though Wikipedia has some errors in its factual content, and some articles are poorly constructed, it is a fantastic resource. Scholars and regular folk alike contribute to this ever growing resource and have created a semi-reliable place to get a quick bit of info on the web. I have found that a Wikipedia article is at least a good start in the hunt for information when investigating a particular topic. A decent article will have a few sources to review on your own and can potentially point you to other great sources to help continue a search. Also, Wikipedia often has the most current info on just about any topic you can think of. Even if the article is just a stub, at least you can double-check if some random idea or concept you may have encountered has some other presence in the world. Finally, Wikipedia’s standards are constantly evolving and helping to produce better content.
Shibuya University Network is very intriguing as a new model of education. Shibuya makes me think about the public library as a community meeting place and collaborative environment, and I think about the ways in which an educational system like Shibuya could connect with the people and resources that interact with the library. Not just our library, too, but any public library or similar community institution.
There are many ways that collaborative creativeness and co-operation seem to overlap across the Internet. There is a new game for the Sony Playstation 3 called Little Big Planet that was released last week. One essential part of the game is providing users the tools to create their own levels for the game in a really unique and fun way. Then, users can share their levels with players across the Internet. This is certainly not the first game to support user content creation, but LBP is doing it in a really unique way. Here’s just a taste of the game:
http://www.us.playstation.com/PS3/Games/LittleBigPlanet
1 comment:
Hey Roop,
I never thought about how Wikipedia has become a filter for information - sort of a front end for the database known as the internet. Very interesting idea and I think, from my own personal use of Wikipedia, you are probably right! Great post!
Tom
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