CNET writes article on Digital Universe
Wikipedia alternative aims to be ‘PBS of the Web’ | CNET News.com
By providing a service they’re calling “the PBS of the Web,” the Digital Universe team hopes to create a new era of free and open access to wide swaths of information on virtually any topic.
Having just read through the Talk Back section underneath the article on News.com I was struck by a few things.
1. The paranoia that because we used the words PBS that we must be some how tied into the government either trying to get tax money or that big brother is going to control your information.
2 The idea of elitist and left winged came across in a few posts which I am gathering from the tone and ideology of these postings came from a staunch “right” wing mentality who firmly believes that if you do not agree with them you must be evil. (I will take a stab in the dark a guess that they already have Jeb Bush in 2008 bumper sticker on their vehicle)
note: “I am a registered Independent who is socially liberal and financially conservative.”
3. The more insane idea that some how this could not be accomplished with an open source Wikipedia because it is “pure” makes me laugh. My first thought is that an uncontrolled anonymous environment is fertile ground for propaganda to be spread…
4. That miss information pervades deep. Even when the defenders of Wikipedia (which I love by the way) make claims and site sources they do so in a sloppy manner that misrepresents the actual findings.
This is the response to someone claiming that Wikipedia “matched” Encyclopedia Britannica on accuracy
“In order to test its reliability, Nature conducted a peer review of
scientific entries on Wikipedia and the well-established
Encyclopedia Britannica.
“The reviewers were asked to check for errors, but were not told
about the source of the information.
“‘Only eight serious errors, such as misinterpretations of
important concepts, were detected in the pairs of articles
reviewed, four from each encyclopedia,’ reported Nature.
“‘But reviewers also found many factual errors, omissions or
misleading statements: 162 and 123 in Wikipedia and Britannica,
respectively.’”
…
“Nature said its reviewers found that Wikipedia entries were
often poorly structured and confused.”
Wikipedia: 162 errors
Britannica: 123 errors
Wikipedia had 31 percent more errors than Britannica, which is
apparently a Wikipedian’s idea of matching. By the way, the
words “match” or “matched” do not appear in the BBC article.
Confusing writing doesn’t amount to a problem?”
link to source
Article on the comparison of Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4530930.stm
As one of the people behind this initiative I would like to point out that the fundamental principle behind this is to do good. We are in no way trying to obfuscate or diminish Wikipedia.
In fact if you look at our road map –
The Digital Universe evolution:
* Develop an independent and financially self-sufficient online partnership between experts, educators, and the general public.
* Engage topic area experts and educators, under the auspices of the Digital Universe’s Stewardship Program, working to bring online the most objective and authoritative information on topics of vital human interest.
* Evangelize to the public the DU opportunity, as a new online visualization platform, as a new knowledge community, and as a new learning process, all non-commercial and held in the public trust.
* Launch the “Open Collaboration Project” as the premier online destination for people looking to share information, resources, and ideas with like-minded peers around a topic of mutual interest.
* Launch the Encyclopedia Project, bringing together key technology innovations over today’s World Wide Web with a community of experts and the general public, to create an unprecedented knowledge experience and education resource.
You will see that the goal is not to exclude anyone but to include as many people as possible thus the name of the underlying company ManyOne. We want to arm you with as much information that is as accurate as possible for you to make informed and globally conscious decisions.
Tags: Digital Universe, ManyOne, Wikipedia
“Boy that guy loves his job” — Roland Tanglao- Podcast Hotel 2005. 
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