I'm continuing with the posts on Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody, while the snow continues to fall outside here.
Shirky writes regarding contributors and editors to Wikipedia: "Wikis take on one of the most basic questions of political philosophy: Who will guard the guardians? Their answer is, everyone. The basic bargain of a wiki means that people who care that the site not be use for that sort of prank have the edge, because it takes far longer to write a fake entry than to fix it" (Shirky, 272).
These words are powerful, and at the same time make a lot of sense. There is great value in truth for the collective effort, but I think it even more importantly recognizes the importance of one's own investment and purpose which comes from such an endeavor as sharing information through Wikipedia.
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