Troll_Bait

Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Location: [T]eaching experience doesn't matter much. -Lee Young-chan (pictured)
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Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 10:06 pm Post subject: Wikipedia reins in "wisdom" of crowds; Thanks S.K. |
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http://www.information-age.com/blog/990472/wikipedia-to-rein-in-the-wisdom-of-the-crowd.thtml
http://www.rjkoehler.com/2009/01/29/groupthink-and-the-lessons-of-mad-cow-demo/
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In South Korea, the trends associated with Web 2.0 - mass participating, community editing - have developed to a stage far beyond what we have here in the UK. And occassionally, a story from that country provides a glimpe of a nightmare scenario of their cultural impact if extrapolated ad absurdum.
Last year, the country's government delayed lifting a ban on the import of American beef after activists staged mass protests. Opponents argued that Amercian beef carried BSE, and that Koreans were particularly vulnerable to developing CJD; both of which were false claims that had bounced around the country's message boards and whipped Korea's young people into a frenzy of xenophobic rage.
Meanwhile, Korean society has been shocked by a spate of celebrity suicides prompted, according to many reports, by online rumours that snowball into witch hunts.
Of course, South Korea has doubtless benefited from the free flow of information afforded by its impressive digital culture, albeit in a less headline-grabbing fashion.
Nevertheless, these stories serve as a warning that technologies which obstensibly grant freedom of expression to the masses can give rise to groupthink and herd-behaviour - arguably the most oppressive forces in human psychology. |
Remember this?
http://briandeutsch.blogspot.com/2008/06/hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.html
The Dong-A Ilbo wrote: |
The semi-protection measure has been taken by an administrator selected by Wikipedia.
The measure is a side effect of the collective intelligence among Korean Internet users. |
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