[WikiEN-l] A future for Nupedia?

Fri Sep 10 01:36:50 UTC 2004

 --- Jens Ropers <ropers at ropersonline.com> wrote: 
> I would PLEAD with everyone to '''not''' go the road of requiring 
> academic certifications for approval (or even to value them 
> excessively).

<snip> 

> But we should not, definitely not, ''require'' academic accreditation 
> in any way -- or even attach substantial value to it. Let 
> contributions, not certificates be our decisive factors. Accepting 
> something because A says it and A is academically accredited as xyz is 
> the reverse of an [[ad hominem]] attack -- and it's equally flawed 
> logic, IMHO. 

<snip>

I disagree with you. Personally, I would distinguish between the process for
writing articles, and the process of evaluating the quality of articles. For
the former, when *writing* articles, academic qualifications should confer no
additional authority or weight -- an unqualified person should have an equal
right to edit the content of an article as should a PhD.

However, when certifying the quality of articles, I think expert review (in
addition to general review) is necessary -- I can give reasons for this, if you
want. Academic qualifications are one form of evidence of expertise.

As an example, if physics Prof. Alice and a "layman" -- Bob -- are editing an
article on [[quantum physics]], and they disagree on a point, they should
discuss it, and cite sources etc; obviously, Alice is not given precedence over
Bob because of her position and qualifications. On the other hand, I would
suggest that Wikipedia should give somewhat more weight to a Professor Carol,
with a 15-year publication record in the field, compared to layman Dave when
Carol says that revision 82 of [[quantum physics]] is a thorough and accurate
treatment of the subject. 

I would emphasise that I *don't* believe that academics are infallible arbiters
of truth. My main point is that review of articles requires, amongst other
things, expertise. My secondary point is that some evidence of expertise can be
found, amongst many other places, in academia.

-- Matt

P.S. I like the idea of "stable" vs "development" versions of an article.

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