I wish them luck, but I know which I'd prefer to edit...<br><p><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">"</span>When will the wiki be set up?</b> Give us a few weeks. With luck and help, sometime in October.
(Nope, not the end of September. Credit us with good intentions!) We'll
continue to try very hard. <a href="http://citizendium.org/essay.html#launch_plan">Read
more about the launch plan</a>, which is under constant refinement."</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p id="cite"><i>Nature</i> <b>443</b>, 493(5 October 2006) | <abbr title="Digital Object Identifier">doi</abbr>:10.1038/443493a;
Published online 4 October 2006</p><h2 id="atl">Wikipedia rival calls in the experts</h2><p id="aug">Jim Giles</p><div id="abs"><a class="backtotop hidden" href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v443/n7111/full/443493a.html#top">
Top<span class="hidden"> of page</span></a><h3 class="hidden">Abstract</h3><p class="lead">Encyclopaedia aims to recognize status of academic editors.</p></div><div id="articlebody"><p class="norm">The
current incarnation of Wikipedia is both phenomenally successful and,
in the eyes of some critics, fundamentally flawed. The online
encyclopaedia now includes more than a million entries in English
alone. Although anyone can edit any article, its accuracy, at least on
science topics, is surprisingly high. But Wikipedia has never given
experts special standing when it comes to determining content. And
that, critics say, deters the people who ought to be contributing from
doing so.</p><p class="norm">Just how big a drawback that is will now
be tested, with the launch of an online encyclopaedia that will give
privileged status to scientists and other experts. Citizendium, a pilot
version of which is due to go live in the next week, will use all of
Wikipedia's content but will host it at another website (<a href="http://citizendium.org/">http://citizendium.org</a>)
and edit it differently. Editors with appropriate academic
qualifications will have the power to settle disputes about wording,
for example, and stamp articles they perceive to be accurate as
'approved'.</p><p class="norm">"One reason we are setting this up is to
give scientists and other scholars a new organizational framework to
clean up and improve on the work started by Wikipedia," says Larry
Sanger, a philosopher and co-founder of Wikipedia, who is the driving
force behind Citizendium. "Wikipedia is now the first stop for many
people in their search for information on scientific topics. Many
scientists would like to help make sure this resource remains accurate,
but they have no desire to navigate the treacherous waters of
Wikipedia's editorial system, which accords them no official role."</p><blockquote class="box"><p class="quote"><img alt="" class="quoteleft" src="http://www.nature.com/nature/images/quoteleft.gif">Many scientists have no desire to navigate the treacherous waters of Wikipedia's editorial system.
<img alt="" class="quoteright" src="http://www.nature.com/nature/images/quoteright.gif"></p></blockquote><p class="norm">
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<p class="norm">Reactions from the many
bloggers who track the progress of Wikipedia have been mixed. Some say
Sanger will struggle to define what constitutes expertise, and that
arguments about content will be replaced by arguments over who is or
isn't an expert. Others think Citizendium will find it hard to attract
regular contributors, as the prospect of having an edit overruled by a
higher power will not appeal.</p><p class="norm">But scientists who
contribute regularly to Wikipedia say Citizendium has promise. "I like
the idea notionally," says Vaughan Bell of the Institute of Psychiatry
in London, who contributes to Wikipedia's schizophrenia page, among
others. William Connolley of the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge,
UK, who updates Wikipedia climate entries, adds that some scientists
have become frustrated with Wikipedia because of the difficulty in
agreeing edits, although both he and Bell agree that conflict can
sometimes result in better articles.</p></div><br clear="all"><br>-- <br> John Cumbers, Graduate Student in Computational Biology<br>Brown University, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Box G-W<br>80 Waterman Street, Providence, Rhode Island, 02912, USA
<br>Tel USA: +1 401 523 8190, Fax: +1 401 863-2166 <br>UK to USA: 0207 617 7824