Wikipedia – Open Source Encyclopedia
The Open Source Movement
The open source movement has been a transforming phenomena in the area of computing. Mainly it’s about people working on free and open software in their spare time (and some full time and paid), with multiple people working on parts of the problem at the same time to solve big problems. It’s brought innovations such as entire free operating systems (Linux), great browsers (Mozilla FireFox), and the most popular web server (Apache). One of the pleasant surprises I’ve run into is one that probably hadn’t occurred to many people – a free and open source encyclopedia.
Open Source Applied to Other Fields
The Wikipedia is open source in that it allows anyone to make contributions to articles. One would initially think this would bring anarchy, but this does not appear to be the case.
Browsing through the Wikipedia, I found that the quality of most of the articles to be very high, and the tone of the articles surprisingly neutral. Some hot topics have undergone multiple edits and controversy (for example the usual arguments about the JFK Assassination). The volume and depth of the information is truly amazing, as subject-matter experts tend to contribute in their fields of expertise. Given it’s attachment to the web, articles are fresh, and there is quite a bit of new information about Iraq.
Given this experience I’m left wondering which other fields that might benefit from the open source movement.
Joe Bob says “Check it Out!”: