QUOTE(Kato @ Tue 21st August 2007, 3:33pm)
You obviously don't have any children, have very little knowledge of how children learn, or have probably never read kids' essays these days. Despite edicts everywhere about wikipedia, kids still hand them in stolen piecemeal from WP. Kids overwhelming believe that wikipedia is reliable, and measures to teach kids that it isn't are being implemented world wide at some cost to us. There is a significant, growing movement against WP, made up of educators, academics and so on. You know... people who are actually qualified to assess this thing.
Come on. Kids are ignorant, almost by definition. They will always have to be taught to consider the source, whether they grow up reading 1950's textbooks, pulp fiction, Japanese graphic novels, Harry Potter, encyclopedias, or the backs of baseball cards. There will always be someplace claiming to have easy answers, and kids who will want to plagiarize rather than do their homework. It's the job of parents and teachers to spend some time with them and not pin their kids' ignorance on a single boogeyman, whether it be a stupid online encyclopedia, the Man, Hollywood, pop culture, or any other lame excuse.
QUOTE(Kato @ Tue 21st August 2007, 3:33pm)
QUOTE(Emperor @ Tue 21st August 2007, 6:00pm)
And forgive me but I'm not impressed by the great people, peer-reviewed, hard-working professionals argument.
You don't sound like the sort of person who would be. People like you never are. Hard work and expertise are just sooooo old maaannn.
I said if they show up to play, they would be welcome. There's a void right now, and the amateurs are filling it. The pros are too busy filling out grant applications, publishing in arcane journals that no one will ever read, and fighting with administrations to bother with anything so mundane as educating the public, despite the fact that they live largely off tax dollars and philanthropic donations.
QUOTE(Kato @ Tue 21st August 2007, 3:33pm)
QUOTE(Emperor @ Tue 21st August 2007, 6:00pm)
I spent enough years at a prestigious university to know what these people are really doing, and basically it's not pulling their own weight in society.
Yeah. What have universities ever given us? Burn 'em down I say.
They used to be quite useful. Now they are just businesses, like anything else, and they function to funnel money to professors, administrators, and staff. A lot has changed since the marriage of PowerPoint and lazy burn-out professors. We need real universities more than ever.
QUOTE(Kato @ Tue 21st August 2007, 3:33pm)
Well if you want to continue with your ill fated project, on your head be it. But don't come running back here when it all goes pair-shaped, you find yourself out of your depth and regretting what you've unleashed on an ungrateful world. In future, when you people "play around" with knowledge, can you please do it in your own backyards. As far away from a google search - and my children - as possible.
Well I'm beginning to think that you think this is a bad idea. Fair enough.