Now this is a great idea for an AskA service… What is AskPhilosophers? This site puts the talents and knowledge of philosophers at the service of the general public. That’s not something that you get to say every day, that you’re putting philosophy to the service of the general public. Too bad, though. We could probably all use a bit more public philosophy. Of course, it used to be that.. Read More
Wikipedia = Britannica
Wikipedia as accurate as Britannica, from CNN Internet encyclopaedias go head to head, from Nature The exercise revealed numerous errors in both encyclopaedias, but among 42 entries tested, the difference in accuracy was not particularly great: the average science entry in Wikipedia contained around four inaccuracies; Britannica, about three. Only eight serious errors, such as misinterpretations of important concepts, were detected in the pairs of articles reviewed, four from each.. Read More
VRD & WebJunction
I’m not sure why I’m bothering to post this, as I suspect that anyone reading my blog also probably reads the Dig_Ref listserv, where this was announced yesterday & where I saw it. Still, just in case not… Date: Mon, 14 Nov 2005 13:19:06 -0500 Subject: Virtual Reference Desk at SU Virtual Reference Desk project joins WebJunction as Information Institute of Syracuse and OCLC expand partnership SYRACUSE, NY–The Virtual Reference.. Read More
Trying out StoryStarters
My last post, in case you were wondering, was me testing out the StoryStarters system, currently under development by the Information Institute of Syracuse, & currently in beta. My response appears on the StoryStarters site here. Critique of using StoryStarters from the point of view of an answerer: pretty damn good, guys. Nice work by the IIS, once again. So far there’s only a plugin for WordPress, though more are.. Read More
Galactic Network
Joseph Liklider was the head of DARPA and helped create the Internet. One of his landmark contributions was a paper called (I think) “the Galactic Network”. Where can I access a copy of that paper? Thanks for asking this really interesting question! I have not been able to locate any paper or book by J.C.R. Licklider with the title “The Galactic Network,” or any variation on that. Instead, what I.. Read More