July 25, 2004
Encyclopedic Knowledge
I looked for something on Wikipedia one time too many and now I am a confirmed Wikipedian. Yes, I'm a registered user and I'm writing and editing articles.
Editing is certainly nothing new to me. I've been editor on the Open Directory Project since February 2001 and a Meta Editor since last April. I've done over 34,000 edits there.
So I've gone from describing and listing websites to writing encyclopedia articles.
Encyclopedias and I go back a long way together. I got my first set World Book encyclopedias at Christmas of 1970. I got the 1970 edition because that was what was available. The 1971 set arrived a few months later. Even though the brown 71's were a year more up-to-date, I always used the red 70's. I read them cover to cover long before I ever reached double digits in age.
The problem with most encyclopedias is cost. They aren't cheap. I don't know how much the World Book sets cost in 1970, but their 2004 counterpart sells for over $1,000. That would be a very expensive Christmas present for most family budgets.
Of course you can get the same 2004 World Books on CD-ROM for only $23.00. It includes extra articles and all the multimedia bells and whistles. But this isn't an advert for World Book.
Why pay when you can get even more for free? That's the great thing about Wikipedia. Plus, it is unlimited in the number of articles it can contain or the subjects it covers. And anyone can create or edit the articles. Sure, World Book contains lots of maps and pictures, but does it have biographies of contemporary Christian music artists?
During my brief foray into Wikipedia, I have filled out the bio of Barry McGuire and created the entries for 2nd Chapter of Acts and the "band called David". I also greatly expanded the entry for Apollo 15 astronaut Jim Irwin.