Both Dr. Müller-Straten and Jeremy's comparisons of the Wikipedia to 
Encyclopaedia Britannica raise what is a parallel question in the 
museological discussion, namely, is the point of inclusion simply to 
involve 'others' or 'outsiders' in the museum (as Lola Young has 
phrased it, 'to be more like us')?

Or should the objective be to redefine the parameters of collecting and 
narratives told by the museum? (The parallel being, can a collaborative 
encyclopedia like wikipedia only go as far as to recapitulate the 
Encyclopedia Britannica, or can it go farther?)

Or are 'community curators' just a gimmick to get some interesting, 
sometimes quirky, display labels?

-L.D.



On Mar 4, 2006, at 4:50 AM, Dr. Christian Müller-Straten wrote:

> well well well, nothing is ironic, only men are. You may have 
> something against the word "educated", but other mails of this thread 
> say exactly what I wrote: that the content of Wiki is not the result 
> of the knowledge of "anyone" but of educated people (the better is 
> become, the more). Of course, also these people may be wrong, but 
> probably not much more than in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. But this 
> is only a comparative figure - the question are:
> - what and how much is missing
> - do the writers name the sources. In Wikipaedia I am missing the 
> sources and very often content. As others said, it might be a start - 
> but you better return to other media and sources four sound work.
>
> Getting back to the original question and matter, there was the 
> museological question "Is the Wiki model also a model for museums?". 
> As I said, as long as museum curators do not give up their ICOM 
> duties, there might be a lot of collaboration with people outside the 
> museum to produce exhibitions and exhibition labels.
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