Make up classes March reflex report - Hanane Ben Abdeslam

What I learned from collective intelligence in practice is mostly that in our recent decades our society has developed from a fairly homogenous, orderly and stable society, to a society with enormous variety and diversity. During these classes I know now that introduction to sociology refers to how people develop social and emotional skills across their lifecycles. It also focusses on the need to put people first, which is necessary for our society, and for the groups of people who are part of it. This makes me realize that our world is constantly changing because of sociology Furthermore, working with Wikipedia was a challenging project. I discovered that Wikipedia made a historical evolution in our society. I would have never thought that Wikipedia would be the biggest web research of all time. It has now become the very best web searching in an ethics of our economy and society. But Wikipedia is an online web search, which is caused by technology. What I’ve also learned more about how technology is important for our society. I kind of want to believe that I couldn’t live without the technology anymore. Over the years, technology has revolutionized our world and daily lives. I believe that technology has created amazing tools and resources, putting useful information at our fingertips. For example, most of our education programs are based on the internet. We do more online research instead of going to the library to dig in books, because it is more efficient and faster to search online. I used to believe that Wikipedia hadn’t reliable sources, but I do believe that it has because, every article on Wikipedia has to follow a guideline to become a reliable source. This means to cite all information you add to articles, to be sure all information is verifiable, and not to include original research in your additions. If you get known for being a reliable source, it is more likely that your edits will be trusted. As is it made it clear in this reading, I learned that technology has played an important role in inspiring the vision of a universal encyclopedia. Which in addition to inspiration, network technology and the related collaboration techniques can enable openness and accessibility, promoting the accountability and socialization of newcomers.

I also find it very interesting that building an encyclopedia is a cumulative and interdependent activity. In fact, it seems impossible to properly recognize everyone who has influenced and cooperate that masterwork. his is very important in order to secure contributions from people. If it wasn’t a foundation, people may be less likely to contribute to Wikipedia, because nobody wants a company to make money using their free subscription fees. However, because it is an open source, it is difficult to guarantee the quality of the articles. But Wikipedia has found something to check this, Wikipedia has found millions of ‘volunteers’ (the people who edit articles, also known as ‘Wikipedians’) to check articles for quality and reliability. And because the company doesn’t want to make profit of it, it only gains more respect from me and probably many others. That's why I think that Wikipedia is becoming more accepted over the years. The volunteers I wrote about earlier, could work on these articles under a free license, this means that whoever works on an article, can modify, adapt, reuse or redistribute it. This was a new way for the society to being able to develop their knowledge. The encyclopedia was developed by a community of volunteers who were working separately, but all worked together to launch a good Wikipage. Back in the days not everyone had the opportunity to access the internet for free, or at all. But these volunteers managed to write articles based on their knowledge. The higher the standards that Wikipedia aims for, the more that Wikipedia will appear sub-standard to the outside world. Many reference controversies revolve around the extent to which reference works are seen as normative, that is, in some way condoning their subject and sources. Way back in the seventeenth century, it was with the sense that the language had reached perfection and should therefore be fixed. However, encyclopedist have been more willing to associate the scope of their subject, and its treatment, with a larger social program. 

What I’ve learned from the reading is how knowledge is constituted and can be difficult, but one can identify three ways for how we might think of knowledge production. First, it’s the hermit’s encyclopedia, devoid of all contact with the words of others. Second, the production of a reference work eventually exceeded the capability of any person. Finally, there is Wikipedia and other open content. I know now how this community and its culture facilitate the production of an encyclopedia. Although technology may inspire some toward a particular end, it might also disgust others and effect changes that are not welcome. I do still think that Wikipedia can serve not only as a reference work, but also, at the same time, as a study of how knowledge is constructed and contested. Furthermore, References to Wikipedia in western culture have increased as more people learn about and use the online encyclopedia project. Many parody Wikipedia’s openness, with individuals vandalizing or modifying articles in nonconstructive ways. Still, others feature individuals using Wikipedia as a reference work, or positively comparing their intelligence to Wikipedia. In some cases, Wikipedia is not used as an encyclopedia at all, but instead serves more as a character trait or even as a game. Wikipedia has also become culturally significant with many individuals seeing the presence of their own Wikipedia entry as a status symbol.

However, any user can change any entry, and even if enough other users agree with them, it becomes true. If only the entire body of human knowledge worked this way. And it can. We can all create a reality that we all can agree on. Originality and personal signature play less and less a role. Graduation theses, political programs and encyclopedias are put together on the internet. One of the great success numbers of the worldwide web is Wikipedia. Anyone can adjust the content of the encyclopedia, minor flaws no objection. I believe that everyone can play now journalist, writer, scientist, politician and detective. And the internet is the ideal platform because it is accessible to everyone, to celebrate the industry-blurring gossip on a large audience. 

Finally, also an interesting topic is the, remix culture for cultural works is related to and inspired by the earlier free and open-source software for software movement, which encourages the reuse and remixing of software works. Moreover, in the usual media culture, the culture is consumed more or less passively. The information or product is provided by a professional source, the content industry, that possesses an authority on that particular product/information. There is a one-way flow only of creative content and ideas due to a clear role separation between content producer and content consumer. For remix culture to survive, it must be shared and created by others. This is where participatory culture comes into play, because consumers start participating by becoming contributors, especially the many teens growing up with these media cultures. This sums up what I’ve learned during this semester. Thank you!

- Hanane Ben Abdeslam