From: MichaelP 
Date: 11 Mar 2003 09:01:19 -0600

 The internet is creating new freedom.

This piece points to the power of readers participating in the 
construction of information ( or the editing-out of spin and other 
noise). There's a project called "Disinfopedia".

MichaelP
================

Dear Weekly Spin subscriber,

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_deception

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)

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