Wikipedia – Or How I Became a Free Knowledge Junkie
Posted: 6 December 2011 Filed under: Miscellaneous | Tags: anarchy, Dana Blankenhorn, free knowledge, Jimmy Wales, Open Source, opensource.com, user editing, Wikipedia 7 CommentsAh… Wikipedia. It’s anarchy in action.
And by that I mean the true meaning of anarchy –> a utopian society of individuals who enjoy complete freedom without central authority of any kind. Many of you who know me, or read my blogs regularly, know that I am a passionate proponent of free knowledge and a supporter of Wikipedia and other similar organizations that provide free access to knowledge.
I firmly believe that ALL schooling, up to and including college and post graduate studies, should be freely available to every human being. Learning should not be meted out by business based on one’s ability to pay. It should be a RIGHT… and freely given to those seeking it. Enough about my philosophical ideas, though.
The main purpose of my writing here today is to alert you to a nice article at opensource.com by Dana Blankenhorn about Wikipedia:
Mirror mirror on the wall, what’s the most important open source project of them all?
- Are you asking about economic impact? Then it’s probably Linux, or maybe the Apache Web server.
- Are you asking about user base? In that case I’m thinking Google’s Android, or Mozilla.
- But if you’re talking about active participation, getting people’s hands on the guts of the thing, having them donate that back to the commons, and fulfilling the idea behind open source, there can be only one answer. Wikipedia*.
*Emphasis mine.
Read the article if you have a moment. Stop in at Wikipedia and help out if you can. And, as always, they could use a buck or two to help defray costs of operating this wonderful site. Donate a little something, if you can spare it. Hard times right now for 99% of us; yet, Wikipedia is so important that if you can spare just a few dollars, it would be most appreciated.
Disclaimer: I am NOT an employee of Wikipedia or its parent Wikimedia Foundation. I’m not a paid fundraiser. I’m just an individual who believes in the importance of keeping knowledge free and available to all. The two greatest allies of oppression and tyranny in this world are ignorance and apathy; do your best to be neither.
Go learn something now! <– Clicking this link will lead you to a random Wikipedia entry. 🙂
Later…
~Eric
Nocturnal Slacker v1.0 
Very cool, thanks for posting 🙂
I need to come up with a merit badge of some sort for you, comhack. I think you’ve read every article I’ve posted here. It’s good to have fans. 😉
Thanks for reading and commenting.
~Eric
🙂
I love Wikipedia! I grew up in a home with 6 kids and not a lot of money. Buying encyclopedia’s was not high on the agenda. We were however great visitors to libraries.
It is wonderful that so many people have contributed, revamped, added/deleted, etc. to make sure Wikipedia can be the best that it can be.
I feel blessed to have such a resource available!
Blessed, indeed! Jimmy Wales is one of my Internet heroes. I wonder if he’s hiring? Sadly, I don’t think Wikipedia keeps its main servers across the Bay from me here in Tampa anymore. I seem to remember that they moved out to the “left” coast. 😉
hey, how you doing. I did upto I can.
BTW, this LINUX theme for your blog is NICE .
Hi Chekki!
I’m hanging in there, my friend.
Glad you like the theme. I thought it was pretty neat. 🙂
See you at Linux.com!
~Eric