Today we did a whole lot on Windows Live Writer, an MS app that allows you to write from anywhere and post on your blog directly.
Very cool except for the huge lot of trouble trying to install it. I had to get Boon Kiat to help me install in on IE instead of Mozilla.
In the afternoon, we had a very informative talk by a Wikipedia editor called Edward Yong. He’s between a master’s degree and a doctoral degree and juggles teaching at ACJC. He says he spends his time hunting ancient manuscripts in ancient Greek (and Latin if I am not wrong) in Northern Italy. He also spends a lot of time (well about 20 minutes a day he says) editing on Wikipedia. And he already doesn’t do the nitty-gritty stuff of checking facts which I am sure he leaves to other angels on the site.
It’s interesting to hear how Wikipedia entries have to have a neutral point of view and he is empowered to take down entries that are “too self-aggrandising”. And he makes it a policy not to touch biographies of living persons as that can be “contentious”.
Interestingly however, despite the openness of the site, I can’t find a list of Wikipedians empowered to edit and delete. Edward’s explanation is that not every editor is active, neither is every editor keen to divulge his identity even online.
I think I have a new respect for how dedicated Wikipedians can be, and a new scepticism about the lack of a trail to the active guardians of the editorial quality of the site.
I would take everything published – online or printed – with a huge bucket of salt. Buyer beware.
