No website personifies all the aspects of an information ecology like Wikipedia. A Wiki is a electronic writing environment where users can add, remove, and edit content on their own. Wikis are created by the user for the user. Wikipedia, a non-profit online encyclopedia, is perhaps the most popular of the Wiki genre, but it is by no means the only one: There are literally thousands of Wikis on the World Wide Web. In particular, the locality concept of information ecologies is shown best through Wikipedia.
"The notion of "a local habitation and a name" captures for us the essence of an information ecology. The name of a technology identifies what it means to the people who use it. In a sense, it positions the technology more directly under the control of its users " - O'day and Nardi on locality in information ecologies
As Nardi and O'day explain in their article "Information Ecologies: Using Technology with Heart", the information ecology medium is completely controlled by its users. Even the positions within the system are determined by its users. For example, the main editors on Wikipedia are never assigned to their positions; they gain noteriety by their positive actions within the ecology -- such as editing, uploading, and helping. Information ecologies are a unique environment where the user has control over his own role in the system. These are important to the structure and evolution of the internet, because the ability to create freely is what is making the Internet what it is today -- whether it be on a blog, twitter, or Wikipedia.
No comments:
Post a Comment