(Untitled)

[black_cracka]

So I want to start a new thing. I'm throwing myself into the blogosphere. Every few days I will share my opinion on a certain matter which peaks my interest for the day. I often get told that people like the way I discuss things with them, be it in person or msn so this is really just an extension of my ideas, a view into my brain which allows me

Comments

[thaft]

That's not a bad idea. Although, who's to say that the strongest contributers on Wikipedia aren't publishing elsewhere anyway. What's their incentive to join the Wikimedia Publishing Group?

Another idea, is to use the information in a similar way to Google. For instance, create a wikieducation. Lay out a program, so that you read these X pages and get tested on them, and you've got the equivalent to a first year biology. I don't think we're at the point where such a program could get certified as a legitimate university course, but it could be useful for people who just want to know that they've got the equivalent knowledge. Charge $50 or $100 for a course.

The point is, New World Media is all about creating value, not extracting it. Wikipedia itself should stay the way it is (the way the Google Search hasn't changed fundamentally in like 10 years), but profitable uses for the information Wikipedia contains should be built up around it.

[black_cracka]

The major incentive would be the massive readership and distribution cost savings. It would probably start with a lot of smaller authors who major publishers don't give the time of day to, but you could get a major author who thinks its a great idea and then a landslide will start from that.

I don't think the wikieducation would work based on the business proposal that wikipedia offers. Allowing people to edit pages freely that other people are paying to take as 100% factual. Also, people tend to just research stuff they want to learn about themselves now, I know I do.

I agree with your creating value statement but I think it has to be built around the current information that wikipedia contains not using it directly. The second people have to pay for the regular pages they have gotten used to wikipedia will lose its fundamental purpose.

[black_cracka]

addenum: look into freeconomics if you want an interesting take on the future consumer economy where everyone is getting so used to free that they are unwilling to pay for certain things so everything is becoming advertiser supported.

[mrgrande]

Germany beat you to the punch.