A More ‘Accountable’ Wiki is Launched
By Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 3/29/2007
For all you wikipedia critics, there’s a new open content online encyclopedia in town, and its founders say it’s more accountable because contributors are no longer anonymous.
Citizendium (sit-ih-ZEN-dee-um), a "citizens' compendium of everything," aims to improve on the wikipedia model by adding "gentle expert oversight" by requiring contributors to use their real names. The experimental four-month pilot project, now available to the public at www.citizendium.org, is the brainchild of wikipedia cofounder Larry Sanger. The goal is to “improve on the Wikipedia model with accountability and academic-quality articles as cornerstones of its work,” says the company. As a result, the wiki project is virtually “vandalism-free.” “The modest success of our pilot project shows that there is hope that we can correct exactly the sort of abuses that people demonize Web 2.0 for,” says Sanger, the project's editor-in-chief, adding that Citizendium provides credible content. “You don't have to choose between content and accountability. We can, in fact, be open to all sorts of participants, but still hold people to higher standards of content and behavior as a community." To date, more than 180 expert editors and 800 authors have participated in over 1,100 articles on subjects ranging from art, science, and recreation. The majority of the Citizendium community consists of authors and also includes editors who are experts in their fields. Editors, who work closely with authors, have two special functions: they may make decisions when needed about how an article should read and may approve specific versions of articles. Constables are sort of like guards who make sure the community runs smoothly and make decisions solely about behavior, rather than content. Many wikipedia critics say the anonymity of its contributors opened the door to vandalism and inaccuracy. "We are proud to say that we have had no vandalism either before or after the short period in which we tested out a self-registration system,” Sanger says. For more information and to read an article by Sanger called “Why the Citizendium Will (Probably) Succeed,” visit http://www.citizendium.org/whyczwillsucceed.html.
