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captain normal writes:
An essay by Robert W.Lucky in IEEE Spectrum, 'Who is the Crowd?', discusses how the internet has provided the means for many people to contribute to knowledge.
From the essay:
I look at my computer screen and imagine all the murmuring voices behind it, clamoring for attention. There is almost a mystical presence out there, not from aliens but from something almost as thrilling and unexpected--a new presence that has been brought about as a consequence of the enveloping architecture of the Internet.
...
The crowd has wisdom, knowing things that may not be known to individuals. It has sentiments, beliefs, and feelings that can be abstracted and analyzed. Moreover, it has the power to affect the real physical world...Small armies of volunteers and paid contributors can be assembled on a moment's notice to work on projects.
I find this very much like this current project here on SoylentNews. This is a 'Crowd' thing. Not a top down organization like the old 19th ~ 20th century organization model."
(Score: 4, Interesting) by TheloniousToady on Friday February 21 2014, @01:50AM
It's interesting to see this in action at Wikipedia. Although they encourage the use of citations, the fact is that much of the material there doesn't have them. For example, here's something from the top of the page on Ella Fitzgerald [wikipedia.org]:
That isn't supported by a reference and obviously contains quite a bit of opinion, yet it seemingly was written by and accepted by "The Crowd". Wikipedia is loaded with that kind of stuff - tidbits of knowledge that are assumed to be accurate because they've been vetted by The Crowd. If all such things were scrubbed, Wikipedia would be poorer for it. I tend to accept them as true when I come across them, and I've even added unsourced tidbits of knowledge myself. And, of course, we do it here (and used to at The Other Place) all the time. Where else would these things come from but The Crowd?