RE: [xmca] avoid these perverts!

From: Michael Glassman <MGlassman who-is-at ehe.osu.edu>
Date: Wed Aug 27 2008 - 18:57:34 PDT

I don't think conservative and liberal is really the correct differentiation when trying to understand where conservapedia came from. It is probably more authoritarian and generative. As I'm sure most are aware wikipedia is becoming a major information resource, probably gaining influence faster than any information source in history. Wikipedia was not started as a liberal information source or even with liberal ideas. It is a completely open source and was in some ways a happy mistake (it was originally supposed to be a prequel to an internet encyclopedia with invited entries - a place for people to discuss how the entries would be set up - and then took on a life of its own. Again, there was little if any ideology behind this invention - it was really Pragmatic in the best sense of the word. But because it was open source the development of information was lateral and relationship dependent rather than being top down. It is the antithesis of an authoritarian approach to information. The conservapedia was started by people who were threatened by the types of information that was being develop by wikipedia. It was an ideological response to a Pragmatic project. So there is really no evidence for a conservative liberal continuum in this relationship, and I think it may not be that good to assume one.
 
By the way I have read the conservepedia is not doing well as an alternative information source to Wikipedia. My gues is not least because it does not fit the culture and developmental patterns of the internet.
 
 
Michael

________________________________

From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu on behalf of Andy Blunden
Sent: Wed 8/27/2008 7:43 PM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: Re: [xmca] avoid these perverts!

Interesting to see the conservatives embracing
postmodernism. In the olden days, conservatives just had
encyclopedias because they believed in Truth. Now, as good
postmodern relativists, they believe in having a different
encyclopedia for people with conservative or "liberal" views.

Andy

Peter Smagorinsky wrote:
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Received on Wed Aug 27 19:22 PDT 2008

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