I suggest that this discussion is turning on three separate issues:


1. knowledge is a social practice rather than an individual project;

2. narratives are socially and historically situated;

3. reality is objective.


Bringing 'outside' voices into the museum in itself does not obviate 
any of these three, although it could contribute to processes related 
to #1 and #2, and perhaps the National Museum of the American Indian 
example shows.

In regard to the Wikipedia, it has been very recently shown that at 
least some entries in English are not accurate and improved oversight 
is needed. (demonstrating the importance of item #3) I certainly would 
not use Wikipedia for research purposes at this stage of development. 
Hopefully in the future.

L.D.


On Mar 2, 2006, at 1:00 PM, Jeremy wrote:

> This is probably not really the right list to discuss
> Wikipedia culture further however. The really
> interesting question is whether museums should open up
> their collections in the same way as Wikipedia, to
> benefit from all that networked brainpower, and to
> offload *some* of the work from curators?
>
> As a museum Curator, (which I'm not) I guess it must
> be legitimate to initially fear the great unwashed
> hoards decending on your neatly manicured records. But
> think about it the other way around. Those great
> unwashed hoards potentially include every other museum
> curator and academic researcher on the planet, amongst
> others. Do you really want to turn down that sort of
> assistance?
>
> The issue of how to separate the wheat from the chaff
> is a technical challenge, but Wikipedia seem to manage
> it OK.

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