Fwd: PR Watch Launches Disinfopedia

[Guest guest]

spin wrote:11 Mar 2003 01:19:27 -0000

spin

PR Watch Launches " Disinfopedia "

 

Dear Weekly Spin r,

 

As the United States lurches awkwardly into war, we want to invite

you to participate in a new project launched by the same people who

brought you the Weekly Spin and PR Watch. We are calling it a

" Disinfopedia " -- an online, collaboratively-written " encyclopedia of

propaganda. " It lets anyone, INCLUDING YOU, contribute or edit any

article at any time.

 

To try it yourself, please visit the following URL:

 

http://www.disinfopedia.org

 

The Disinfopedia runs on the same software as Wikipedia

(www.wikipedia.org), a successful project to produce a " complete and

accurate open content encyclopedia. " It operates under the " GNU open

document license, " which is similar to the " open source " license used

to develop free software such as the Linux computer operating system.

This model of human collaborative research operates according to

surprisingly simple principles that resemble the system of " peer

review " used in scientific research. On Disinfopedia, everyone is a

peer reviewer. Anyone can submit an article, and anyone can edit any

article. You might worry that this would lead to anarchy and mere

gibberish. Actually, though, this approach has worked quite well in

practice. In only two years of operation, Wikipedia has already

developed more than 100,000 articles, many of which are comparable in

detail and accuracy to the Encyclopedia Britannica. This approach

works for the same reason that open source software keeps improving:

For every person who makes a malicious or erroneous contribution,

numerous others correct errors and make improvements.

 

With war on the horizon, developing a public resource on propaganda

has never been more important. We have drafted an essay about

Iraq-related propaganda, titled " Weapons of mass deception, " which

you can read (and revise) at the following URL:

 

http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Weapons_of_mass_deceptio

n

 

Beyond the immediate goal of developing a resource on propaganda, we

hope that the Disinfopedia can serve as an example that will help in

developing alternatives to conventional, mass-media journalism.

Traditional media lend themselves readily to a " propaganda " style of

communication, in which a small number of individuals produce

messages designed for broadcasting to millions of passive recipients.

The Internet has contributed to breaking down this artificial

dichotomy between " broadcaster " and " audience. " The Disinfopedia is

an experiment that we hope will go further still, by demonstrating

that " the masses " can do just as good a job of analyzing and

understanding their information environment as professional

journalists.

 

In order for this to succeed, of course, we need people like you

(yes, YOU) to add your eyeballs and your intelligence to this

project. We hope you will take a look at the Disinfopedia. Cast your

vote for a more democratic world by contributing early, and

contributing often!

 

Laura Miller, Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber

Editors of PR Watch (www.prwatch.org)

 

----

 

The Weekly Spin is compiled by staff and volunteers at PR Watch.

To or unsubcribe, visit:

http://www.prwatch.org/cmd/_sotd.html

 

Daily updates and news from past weeks can be found at the

Spin of the Day " section of the PR Watch website:

http://www.prwatch.org/spin/index.html

 

Archives of our quarterly publication, PR Watch, are at:

http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues

 

Our new project, the Disinfopedia, is at:

http://www.disinfopedia.org

 

PR Watch, Spin of the Day, the Weekly Spin, and

Disinfopedia are projects of the Center for Media &

Democracy, a nonprofit organization that offers

investigative reporting on the public relations

industry. We help the public recognize manipulative and

misleading PR practices by exposing the activities of

secretive, little-known propaganda-for-hire firms that

work to control political debates and public opinion.

Please send any questions or suggestions about our

publications to:

editor

 

Contributions to the Center for Media & Democracy

are tax-deductible. Send checks to:

CMD

520 University Ave. #310

Madison, WI 53703

 

To donate now online, visit:

https://www.egrants.org/donate/index.cfm?ID=2344-0|1118-0

 

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