What's New 28 Aug 09

WHAT’S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 28 Aug 09   Washington, DC

1.  WIKIPEDIA: IT’S STILL A BEAUTIFUL IDEA, BUT MAYBE NOT PERFECT. 
Let me begin with two observations:  1) people often know a lot about 
something, and 2) technology exists that can store and retrieve whatever it 
is they know.   Eight years ago, a visionary group including Jimmy Wales 
and Larry Sanger put 1) and 2) together to make a free encyclopedia. They 
called it Wikipedia.  Here's the visionary part: It’s not just free 
information; anyone is free to edit it.  The theory behind this embrace-the-
chaos culture is that those who know what they're about will suppress the 
fraudulent and the pathological.  It works so amazingly well that the 
English-language version recently topped 3 million articles.  As a basic 
scientist who now devotes his waking hours to writing about science and 
society, I find Wikipedia to be indispensable.  I suppose I shouldn't be so 
surprised.  Science owes its success and credibility to a policy of 
openness, while Wikipedia carries openness to its practical limit.  In 2007 
I cautioned WN readers that scam artists would inevitably find ways to 
manipulate Wikipedia http://bobpark.physics.umd.edu/WN07/wn032307.html .  
Indeed, they have.  In the Wikipedia article about "Robert L. Park," I 
found myself described as a "Wikipedia critic." Actually, I'm a curmudgeon, 
but I think Wikipedia is cool.  

2.  FLAGGING: WIKIPEDIA CURBS EDITING OF ARTICLES ABOUT PEOPLE.  
An article by Noam Cohen in Wednesday's New York Times reports that within 
weeks Wikipedia will begin imposing a new layer of editorial review on 
articles about living people.  Such articles will be "flagged" for approval 
by an experienced editor.  Cohen cites embarrassing examples in which 
malicious falsehoods have made their way into Wikipedia articles about 
public figures.  Wikipedia was due for a little reality therapy.

3.  SCOPES REDUX: LOBBYISTS MAY BE NOSTALGIC FOR DAYTON.
Newspapers around the country have carried the story of the US Chamber of 
Commerce, the top US lobbying group, calling for the EPA to hold a Scopes-
like hearing on the evidence that climate change is man-made.  The EPA 
dismisses such a stunt as a "waste of time," but that's the least of its 
problems.  Having lost the contest over scientific peer review of journal 
articles, the global warming deniers are accused have cooked up a Hollywood 
stunt.

4.  ELECTROSENSITIVITY: REFUGEES FROM WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY.
In the wilds of the Drome Valley in southern France, living in metal-
shielded campers, and wrapped in aluminum foil, they seek relief from the 
ubiquitous radio waves that are destroying their lives. The increased use 
of WiFi is not making matters any better. Radio waves, they insist, cause 
them real physical pain, but double-blind tests consistently show them to 
be unable to distinguish between real and sham electromagnetic fields.

5.  NESSIE: CLOSE AT LAST TO SILENCING THE DOUBTERS? 
There had been concern that the old girl might have fallen victim to global 
warming, but there she was on a satellite image. You can't deny that can 
you?

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
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