Technology (Exercise #7)

I'm working on the flickr exercises. I created my account and everything, and then I realized that the pictures I want to upload are at home and I'm at work right now. So I'm skipping to Exercise #7. I couldn't decide what exactly to write about, since the topic of technology can include so many different aspects.

I finally decided to focus on this new project called Encylopedia of Life. It looks really interesting. It appears to be a Wikipedia-like project, only hopefully much better, and of course focuing on science. Like the new Citizendium, it's going to include experts and amateurs. It has some major institutions associated with it, like Harvard University and the Smithsonian Institution. From the demonstrations it looks like the pages are going to have images, charts, maps, and videos. All the multimedia should make it more exciting than the boring encyclopedias and biology textbooks we had when I was a child (in the not so distant past).

I'm excited to hear aboout a project like this because it will hopefully combine a lot of what makes Wikipedia so popular without some of its baggage. Though I always caution students about using Wikipedia, I do understand its appeal. It's easy to use and easy to navigate, especially with the internal and external links. I like that Encyclopedia of Life looks like it will have that same ease of use and that it will continue the spirit of collaboration that makes Wikipedia such an interesting experiment, despite its many problems.

Now whether or not Encyclopedia of Life can reach its goal of including all 1.8 million species is another subject. They estimate it may take 10 years. That sounds rather optimistic to me. It reminds me a little of people who think that sometime we will have a universal digital library. The idea of being able to have a library of everything is very appealing, but at the end of the day probably impossible.

Still I like seeing ambitious projects like this. I think it shows what makes the Internet still such a powerful concept in so many people's minds---the idea that we can bring together thousands and thousands of people to create a catalog of all the worlds' species, a catalog that could change the way we think about biology, ecology and maybe even our planet. Reminds you that the Internet can be used for more than celebrity gossip, porn, and college hook-up social network sites.