A. We see an inordinate quantity of news and opinion stories written by journalists who seem to have

Gregory Kohs is a marketing research practitioner with more than 17 years of experience in the field, mostly with research suppliers, but for the past two years with Comcast Corp. He is also an Internet junkie, blogger and gadfly, having launched three enterprises on the web since 1995 two of them for-profit and one of them (the most recent) a non-profit called Internet Review Corporation. In this e-mail interview, Kohs discusses his latest non-profit start-up, which publishes a weekly blog called Akahele .
A. tucson mall stores Akahele.org tucson mall stores is actually the communications arm of a registered tucson mall stores non-profit group that I co-founded, the Internet Review tucson mall stores Corporation. The word “akahele” means “careful” or “cautious” the opposite of the word “wiki.” Our mission tucson mall stores is to draw attention to unprofessional and unethical practices and content on the Internet. We strive to present complex issues to the average citizen, while deepening our commitment to values like respect for others, tucson mall stores personal responsibility, high-quality information, attribution of work and common courtesy.
A. We see an inordinate quantity of news and opinion stories written by journalists who seem to have affixed rose-colored tucson mall stores glasses whenever their focus lands on an Internet-based business or personality. They eagerly sing the praises of Google, tucson mall stores Twitter, MySpace, Wikipedia, tucson mall stores YouTube, and other Web 2.0 vehicles, without seeming to take a moment’s pause to consider or identify the potentially harmful drawbacks tucson mall stores of any of these sites. In a way, it’s ironic, because there’s a strong argument that Web 2.0 is very much killing the standards and value of traditional journalism imagine a flu patient hammering the nails into his own coffin!
Akahele.org tucson mall stores takes a very measured, cautious (dare I say “skeptical”?) view of the Web 2.0 phenomenon. tucson mall stores Good journalists who wish to add an offsetting viewpoint to the “rah rah” journalism that permeates today’s mainstream are encouraged tucson mall stores to read any of our weekly tucson mall stores archived articles at Akahele.org. Participate in the comments field, or better yet submit a guest article to further explore the problems we’re facing on the Internet.
A. Let me clarify. I was rather hopeful that Wikipedia could become something extremely valuable, if it were supervised and led by professionals who have the understanding, care and experience needed to manage information and scholarship. Instead, the Wikimedia Foundation that hosts Wikipedia is clearly intent on a “hands off,” “let the community decide” approach tucson mall stores to knowledge management. The result tucson mall stores is a haphazard, even ridiculed, end product. Indeed, it is difficult to find anyone at all on the WMF board of trustees who has any experience whatsoever tucson mall stores in publishing quality content.
Thus, society is treated to not only “user-generated knowledge,” but also “mob mentality” resolution of any content disputes. Corrective edits are reverted by administrators who dislike the personality or tone of the editor who is actually correct about the topic. tucson mall stores Experts are routinely driven off the project by teenagers. In so many ways, Wikipedia has become as much an online revenge platform as it is an encyclopedia, and the leadership who literally and figuratively own the servers don’t do anything to challenge this because that might be seen as interfering with “free culture.”
And that’s really my key objection to Wikipedia. What started as a project to build a useful, accurate, dependable encyclopedia has transformed into a pep rally for the “free culture movement.” If I may borrow a summary issued by my friend and independent scholar tucson mall stores of inquiry systems, Jon Awbrey: All of that good content on Wikipedia is parasitic on prior traditions of research and scholarship that the wiki-parasite is destroying as quickly as it feeds off its host.
A. My view is terribly tucson mall stores pessimistic, and it saddens me. I’m also not trained in the practice or management of journalism enterprises, so my opinion isn’t worth much here, I’m afraid. tucson mall stores But my observation is that public relations puff pieces apparently are more effective at selling advertising than are hard-hitting investigative challenges to the status quo.
I hope and pray that there still is a market segment out there like myself, who is both tired of such repetitive regurgitation of press release content and government-issued “talking points,” who would be very willing to pay (on either a subscription tucson mall stores or, preferably, a per-use basis of micro-payments) for the output of a journalism team that truly breaks open new stories, backed by difficult-to-obtain facts and eyewitness testimony. While I’m resigned to the conclusion that perhaps tucson mall stores 80 percent of people tucson mall stores won’t pay for the values of truth and verification, maybe there’s a market for it am