Judy wrote:
>
> there's a good definition and article at:
>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disintermediation
>
>Wikipedia is a terrific source for unfamiliar words.
>

I agree, Wikipedia does have a lot of unfamiliar words.

But http://www.dictionary.com has something that Wikipedia doesn't have - and it's something really important -
- original source verification

Wikipedia is a publicly editable encyclopedia.  It's a compilation of user articles.
It's a good source for a lot of stuff, but it's _not_ an original source and the verification process is unclear.  

Try it yourself...
Put the word "Wikipedia" into Wikipedia.
To the credit of the founders, the article describing Wikipedia does admit to the criticisms of "wiki" information.  

It addition, to the criticisms they admit to, I've found Wikipedia used as free advertisement.  If you surf Wikipedia for info for text panels or programs, you'll soon find that companies put keywords on products they sell, or even their company, name into Wikipedia.  The text on those entries is sometimes word-for-word from the company's own promotional material.  

Sometimes someone else edits the article with,
"WARNING... THIS ARTICLE APPEARS TO BE AN ADVERTISEMENT,"
but not always.  

The way I look at it:
If you're going to research information for your programs and written material, why not use information that's gone through an established editorial process?

Try it yourself:

- go to http://www.dictionary.com and type in "Disintermediation" 
- that takes you here...
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Disintermediation

You'll find references from Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Random House Dictionary, American Heritage Dictionary and others sources that are more reliable than Wikipedia.  

While wikis, in general, have a huge impact on our culture, 
a wiki is one of those new technologies that I was talking about yesterday when I posted...
>New technologies explode onto the market.                                  
>We need to be prepared with standards to use them effectively.

My personal opinion on wikis is that - language is flexible. 

- We should be on top of all the latest colloquialisms, and wikis can help keep us abreast.  
- We can even use wikis to put our own work online.

- But it's a really good idea to verify anything we find in a wiki.

Just my 2-cents!

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