Two new essays
I’ve posted two essays to citizendium.org that help explain the thinking behind and plans for the Citizendium.
Why Make Room for Experts in Web 2.0? (text of keynote at SDForum from last October 24) You can watch a video of the Q&A.
There’s a bit of conventional wisdom about Web 2.0 that is wrong. According to this conventional wisdom, Web 2.0 involves bringing the power of publishing to the masses. It’s all about harnessing the “wisdom of crowds” and not the wisdom of experts. So, a project that gives experts a special role couldn’t be a Web 2.0 project–even if the expert’s role were part of an online, open, dynamic, collaborative community.
This conventional wisdom is wrong. Experts can have a special and positive role in Web 2.0 projects, or so I’ll argue. As we’ll see, it’s quite understandable why so many people dislike the idea of special experts in open, online collaboration. But, as it turns out, there is no good reason that Web 2.0 projects cannot make room for experts.
So this talk will be argumentative. I’m a philosopher, so it’s probably going to sound a little like a philosophy paper. Sorry about that. Anyway, I’ll begin with an explanation of what Web 2.0 is, as I understand it, and I’ll explain what makes it work. Then I’ll elaborate my claim that experts can and should be given special roles in Web 2.0 projects. Then I’ll spend a lot of time replying to objections.
The Role of Content Brokers in the Era of Free Content (articulates the Citizendium Foundation’s concept for funding free content)
So here’s the proposal: the public presents an offer for a specific sum to go to someone who will write authoritatively on such-and-such a subject; the broker selects the content creator, who creates the content; and then the broker releases the content to the public, free for all (under, for example, a Creative Commons license). The buyers are still the general public, but are expanded to include groups of people, clubs, schools, universities, organizations, governments, and other entities that pay for the work on behalf of the general public. The sellers are still communicators and artists. The brokers can still include editors, designers, and other publishing industry professionals.
This is the concept referred to mysteriously in the FAQ as a “funding model (we think it is exciting and innovative) that will be revealed in good time.”