Thing 8: Hands off my Wiki!!

Wikis can be very useful for certain circumstances. For example, the Common Craft example of creating a camping supply list makes perfect sense. However, this use for a wiki is very similar to Doc sharing through Google Docs or a similar site. The thing I liked about Google Docs is you could invite people to edit the document and it wasn't completely open to the public. I read some mention of limiting access through Wikis, but it seems they are more generally used as completely open sources of information. The other application where Wikis seem pertinent is the wikiHow site where people are able to provide original How'To info about a wide variety of topics. I'm more skeptical of people quoting Wikipedia in their research because aside from Wiki community control, there is nothing stopping someone from posting incorrect information. On topics that are more subjective, I could see Wikis being more useful.

I found this part of Meredith Farkas' article interesting:

The notion of private property is so deeply embedded in our society that it’s difficult to imagine going onto someone else’s website and changing things, even when they want us to. We’re accustomed to websites where someone is the final arbiter on what can or cannot go into it. With a wiki, everyone is the final arbiter. If I don’t like what someone put into the wiki, I can change it. And if someone don’t like what I wrote, they can make their own changes. The wiki will develop organically to reflect the interests and needs of the group who worked on it.

Personally, I'm wary of the open nature of wikis for objective information. For more opinion based discussions, wikis seem like a great idea.

Finally, if I had to choose between Zeppelin II, IV, and Physical Graffiti I would go with Led Zeppelin IV although both Led Zeppelin III and Houses of the Holy are much stronger albums than the three listed.