I have a sense that the new communications technologies are having a powerful impact on our world, how we think, how we interact, how we relate to ourselves, to others and to information. Exactly what this impact is, however, I’m not clear about. I want to talk to people around me about it, but nobody seems to know what I’m talking about… So this caught my eye (I found it at Smelly Knowledge, who got if from here):
Smelly Knowledge | Exploring the depths of learning, identity, and community over technology.:
The most useful contribution of the Wikipedia isn’t their networked search for a neutral portrait of truth, for this will always be flawed; it’s the idea that the truth is inherently in flux. Just as we should approach the mass media with an incredulous eye, we should approach Wikipedia with an incredulous eye. With Wikipedia, however, we know that we need to – and this is an advance.
That is indeed an interesting statement… wikipidea makes it obvious that we need to constantly question knowledge. The constant questioning is what has changed for me. It is harder to judge the credibility of sources online since people grab, and take without proper citation. And even when I want to acknowledge the sources I find it hard to verify the origin. Wondering also how references to blogs would ever gain credibility and if in our “construction of knowledge” these conversations will ever become reputable.