Encyclopedia?

I don't even remember when I first heard of Wikipedia, but in the last year it's become a part of every net-user's daily life. When you wonder about something, you go to Wikipedia. I've even got a shortcut to it on my phone's home page.

Why? Because it's reliable. Contrary to a certain spoof video (funny even though I disagree with it) the facts are almost always straight. For every user posting random information there is a hundred users correcting it and providing citations to support it. Wikipedia is famous because it's accurate, and it's accurate because it's famous. I've seen pages updated within literally minutes of something happening. Where else would you get this kind of information?

That's exactly my point. Without Wikipedia, where would we get our information? From a hard-copy encyclopedia that's incorrect the moment the editors are done with it? With the coming of the "Data Age", as I like to call it, internet access (and by extension access to information) is available almost anywhere. Are we leaving behind the encyclopedia? Is the process of validating information for print too slow for our needs?

Many blogs operate on the First Post principle. As soon as they catch wind of a rumour, they publish it on their blog. It's the internet. You can always go back and update it when you have more information, but the prestige of being the first publication to announce something makes it a risk worth taking. In a way Wikipedia is the same. As soon as something happens, a user thinks "I probably need to put that on the page" and off they go. If it's incorrect, another user (or the same user) will go and correct it. Because of this, you can go check how many people watched the last episode Lost, literally hours after broadcast.

So is Wikipedia the ultimate and only? No. Why is it the sole source of information on the internet, even maybe the world (because even newspapers now cite it as reference)? Because it provided the right service at exactly the right time. The problem with the internet was, yes there's all the information you will ever need, but are you going to sift through pages of search results pointing to news articles and rumour blogs to find what you're looking for? Wikipedia gives a single point of contact for information, which is then presented with definitions and basic information first, filtering into detail as you read.

As with everything, there is competition, other companies doing the same thing. Google launched Knol. It's essentially Wikipedia, but articles are based on topics and theses rather than defining a concept, and are supposed to be written by an expert in the field. There are some good articles, but when I want to know what films Stanley Kubrick(yes it's linked to the Wikipedia page) made, I'm not going to find it on Knol.

About now I usually make my closing argument. This time it's easy. To write this article, I opened Wikipedia 12 times to check references. That's all you need to know.

Also, if you're the type of person that gets involved in high science arguments over a few drink(happens every weekend), Wikipedia and a cell phone that can access it is an essential part of winning an argument.

Words:

Picture this time...

Isolation

Five years ago when I had just gotten my driver's license, I used to get annoyed at my mom. She would pester me with reminders such as looking for emergency phones when driving far, and keeping track of petrol stations and truck stops even if I don't stop at them. I found it very irritating. But if something were to happen to me out on the road, that was the one thing that could save me. Because five years ago, I didn't have a cellphone.

I didn't have a phone because if I needed to speak with someone, I went there and found them. If I wanted to buy something, I went to a shop where I spoke to a person. If something happened to me out on the road, I walked to the nearest truck stop or emergency phone.

These days everything is virtual. If I read (on the internet) about a game that I think I'd enjoy, I go to Take2 (on the internet) and order it. It then gets delivered to my house a few days later. You can buy literally anything online these days, even groceries. I even rent DVDs online. When you're out on the road, you drive with all your windows shut tight so the aircon can do its thing. You look out at the world like it's a movie, or some display in an aquarium. You don't interact with the outside world or with other people. It's your little adventure.

You don't go to someone's house, you hook up online. As I say this, I consider running Google Talk and checking who's at home.

I work for a company that sells services. Internet connectivity, websites, bulk e-mail, etc. Beside the fact that we don't have physical stock to put on a shelf, we don't need a shop front because no-one would ever come. People order services on our website. They pay for it with a credit card. If something goes wrong they e-mail us. If it really goes wrong they phone our support people.

It's sad, really. We all go on about going green and being environmentally friendly, but we isolate ourselves from the outside world. Not just from nature (heaven forbid a single bug should make it past the windowsill) but also from each other.

I think we prefer it that way because we don't have to deal with uncertainties. Facial expressions, body language and tone of voice are gray areas, open to be misinterpreted. If it's there in writing in my inbox, how can I get it wrong? For a perfect example of doing things online instead of going out and living it up, read the quote below. (Sorry Jeff, I love your posts but you're a geek)

Do yourself a favour. Next time you want to buy something, instead of just going online and ordering it, go into a shop and buy it. Walk in, find yourself a nice friendly store clerk that knows what they're doing, and communicate.

Words:
"I don't actually know a whole lot about animals now. Except that I like them. So now I'm giving myself a crash course in all sorts of things--which is also giving me a side course in geography (hey--Africa is a continent!)--through extensive reading, Wiki-ing, and watching of channels like Animal Planet, when they're not doing one of their 35 shows on dogs."
-Jeff Green

Cellphones = Evil

In this modern world of technology and mobility, you can do almost everything from your cellular phone. Ordering pizza, reading up on facts, cruise around the internet, download and watch feature films... The options are endless. But the one thing nobody seems to be able to do is leave the thing alone.

A colleague came over to my desk earlier and picked up my phone (pictured). It's always lying nearby in case someone is looking for me, but usually once I put it down on my desk I don't touch it. She looked at the phone, turned it over a bit and says: "I like your phone. It's nice and small... Don't like the qwerty keyboard though."

"Why not?"

"I don't like qwerty keyboards," she replies. "I can't type on it while I'm driving 'cause I need to look what I'm doing."

"Why do you need to type on your phone while you're driving?"

She pauses for a second, ignoring the question, pondering. Then continues.

"Rich always gets annoyed with me when I take my phone out in the movies..."

At this point I interrupted her.

Are you that addicted to your phone that you can't even leave it alone for a few hours? And it's not like the phone rang or anything, you just take it out and make sure nobody was looking for you, or even worse, you go onto some social activity site like MXit or Facebook to see how you can keep yourself busy while you're in the movies. What's wrong with this picture? You're in a movie! Why are you looking for something else to do?

It gets worse. Why do you need to type something on your phone while you're driving? Can't it wait until you get to wherever you're going? And if it's important enough not to wait, why don't you pull over and do it? If your phone rings you can answer it and put it straight onto speakerphone without much trouble (my phone you hold down the answer button for a moment and it beeps).

The problem goes deeper than a mere addiction to a device. The cellphone has given people access to alternative activities no matter what they're doing. This means people never concentrate on a single thing at a time. They must always be doing at least two, maybe even three things, which inevitably means they're doing two or three things, half or a third as well as they should or could.

When you take out your phone during a movie, you're not just spoiling the movie for yourself (less immersed, not seeing the good parts, etc.), you're also spoiling it for the 6 or 8 people sitting roughly behind you, who now have to look past a 1000 lumens backlight to get to the screen.

Cellphone users while driving are far worse than drunk drivers, especially because drunk drivers are at least still concentrating on the road.

Think about how much you use your cellphone. I'm sure you can use it alot less.

Words:
'I'm putting together a creature that pretty much Darwin would go: "Hey... um... I'm never taking acid ever again".'
-Robin Williams, playing with Spore Creature Editor