News from The Roanoke Times - Professors give online resource mixed grades

News from The Roanoke Times - Professors give online resource mixed grades

Ya see, now I like this guy. I've always liked Tom's writing - he has a very well-considered way of putting things. And Tom is spot on about the Wikipedia, it is great and generally accurate. But is it accurate enough?

Thats the one problem most people will have with any kind of user-edited source, always wondering about accuracy. But these same people will unquestioningly, absolutely accept a story written by the NYTimes or the WaPo as gospel. Even though, on countless occasions lately, the Times has been proven wrong on its facts. Essentially, the NYTimes is has changed from the Old Gray Lady, to the ancient, crumbling Gray Lady.

There will always be a NYTimes, but will it have the credibility of the Weekly World News?

Now then, back to the Wikipedia thing. There's a bit more to the Wiki than just the Pedia.

Head here: Wikimedia.org You will see the various branches of Wiki, including a Wiktionary, WikiBooks, WikiQuotes, and WikiSpecies.

Everything Wiki is under either a public domain or a creative commons license, and the creative commons license is probably one of the best devices to come on the internet since its inception. Scroll down, I have one.

But the Wiki is a world unto itself, and the Roanoke Times should be looking a little nervous. The future is not in journalisim, it will be in the ability to edit stories for facts, coallate the stories in order of importance for each user, and weed out the junk. In a few short years, everyone who chooses to will have the ability to audio- and video-podcast. Everyone will have the access to a blog if they so choose. It will no longer be dependant upon sitting at a desk, it will go live - to the streets. And everyone will be able to write news stories based upon their observations.

1 mugging in Central Park, 5 different stories - each from a different person who was right there. Some have photos of the criminal, some have blow by blow descriptions of how the criminal came upon the victim and robbed them. Some will have live audio interviews with the victim, who discusses the fact that crime is up in cetral park, and this is the 4th time they have been mugged. That in turn spawns someone to go and interview the NYPD Cheif of Police, and someone else to interview their brother the cop. Then, of course, there will be a dark side to the story - someone will go and talk to criminals to get their take on how easy it is to get away with crime in Central Park.

And all of this will happen within 24 hours.

Then come the editors. Paid per story, they scan every one of the mugging stories - including follow-ups. They then check the licenses, make appropriate changes, credits, contacts - and combine all these sources into one comprehensive, cohesive story. Which he in turn then sells to one of the major media outlets.

All the while life goes on, and you, aware of the process, go to your personal favorite sources online, and read whichever story you like. Some people prefer to get their news from multiple sources, some from single sources.

It will be no different in the future.