作者：安德魯-李（Andrew Lih）
首發於光明觀察，轉載請註明譯者及出處；本譯文僅供參考，引用請查對原文。
原編者按：很多人預計，20世紀90年代網際網路的興起會引發一場信息技術的"革命"，這場革命將改變人類生活的每個方面。儘管對於許多人來說，現實被證明並不像誇誇其談那樣令人興奮，但在虛擬空間裡存在著一個小角落，它稱得上發揮了網際網路的潛力，成為交流思想和信息的一塊自由和民主的空間。媒體研究學者Andrew Lih認為，維基百科（Wikipedia.com）就是帶有網際網路革命力量做派的一家網站。作為一家在線的百科全書網站，全球任何能上網的人都可以免費享受它的服務。然而，這家網站真正的重大突破在於其開放性--它的2萬多個條目全是世界各地對此感興趣的用戶製作和編輯的。網站邀請每個人前來上傳或編輯任何他們認為合適的詞條。雖然這家網站面臨著被濫用或遭到破壞的明顯潛在威脅，但是Lih認為，越來越多致力於此道的用戶確保了詞條的權威性，同時審查機制被減化到最小程度。他總結道，"隨著這個世界逐漸走向一體化，維基百科有助於表明網際網路在跟上全球社區的知識和理解方面將起到怎樣的關鍵作用。"
對於在線百科全書，權威並未消失，只是分散了。
（香港）在過去的10年裡，網際網路已經為大眾打開了出奇豐富的信息資源。但使用網際網路卻如同走進一家全部書籍雜亂堆放在地板上的圖書館。儘管類似Google的工具允許人們進行某些有條理的搜索，通過這種搜索獲得的大量信息或是過時的，或者其價值可疑。一些網絡熱心人現在擔負起一項任務，即通過一種唯有網際網路才能實現的民主方式組織信息：創造一部民有、民享，複製和散布完全免費的百科全書。
這部網絡上的"大眾百科全書"--一家名為維基百科的免費網站--已經通過邀請個人參與整理和更新網頁內容的過程，提供了一種獨特的解決方案。這場運動的核心部分稱為Wikis，也就是允許用戶通過一擊滑鼠即可編輯任何網頁的網站。（夏威夷語"WikiWiki"意為迅速，這也是wiki一名的由來。）
維基百科--這些合作努力中最龐大的實例--是一部功能強大，用戶自建的在線百科全書，它存在了僅僅3年就已經成為一種廣受歡迎，備受好評的參考工具。維基百科的目標在於創造能夠被免費共享和複製的百科全書，同時鼓勵人們改變和完善它的內容。這裡的每一篇文章都附有顯示"編輯這張網頁"的按鈕，它可以讓每個人，甚至匿名過客，增添或刪減網頁上的任何內容。這個辦法看起來會引起很多的災難和混亂，然而它卻產生了出人意料的可靠內容，這些內容被數以千計的網站訪問者評估和修改過。對於很多人來說，維基百科最終實現了全球資訊網的創始人錢-伯納斯-李（Tim Berners-Lee）最初的構想--創造一種在線環境，在這裡人們不僅瀏覽內容，而且積極自由地交流信息。
網際網路新星Bomis.com的主管Jimmy Wales創辦了維基百科這一項目。他原來的項目也是一部志願性的，但受到嚴格控制的免費百科全書。但該項目在兩年後用光了資金和資源。擁有博士學位的編輯負責這一項目，然而網站一共只製作了幾百個詞條。不想讓它就這樣夭折，Wales在2001年1月將這些網頁放到一家Wiki網站上，並邀請每一位網際網路訪問者編輯或添加這個資料庫。
這個站點在第一年就取得了飛躍式的成功，並贏得了一批忠誠的追隨者，製作了2萬多個詞條，還初步提供了十幾種語言的翻譯版本。兩年後，它擁有了10萬個詞條；到了2004年4月，它共有25萬英文詞條和以50種其他語言寫成的60萬個詞條。每天都有2000多個以多種語言寫就的詞條添加進來。據Alexa.com網站的排名，維基百科已經比Britannica.com這種傳統的在線百科全書更受歡迎，它是網際網路上訪問率最高的600家網站中的一員。
那麼，這個完全開放的編輯系統是靠什麼運作的呢？由於Wikis提供多種功能，如追蹤詞條狀態，檢查個別改動和討論問題，它們發揮著社會軟體（social software）的功能。Wiki網站還會追蹤和保存對一項詞條的每一次改動，所以任何操作都不會對網頁造成永久性的破壞。維基百科很大程度上靠人們的共識運作著，用戶增改內容，同時試著由這種方式達成一致。
然而，只靠技術是不夠的。Wales還制定了一項以保持中立觀點為指導原則的編輯政策。他說，"觀點中立是我們做任何工作的一項不容商量的絕對要求。"據維基百科的指南稱，"觀點中立試圖提供支持者和反對者都能夠同意的思想和事實。"在這一政策下，這一大眾項目確立了"新聞業"的原則--堅守事實，說明來源，保持平衡。
結果，諸如全球化這種關於富有爭議問題的詞條就已經得益於維基百科的合作性和全球性。在過去的兩年裡，這一條目的編輯次數多達90多次，其編寫者來自荷蘭、比利時、瑞士、英國、巴西、美國、馬來西亞、日本和中國等國。這一詞條提供了對許多議題的多重視點，從世界貿易組織和跨國公司到反全球化運動和對文化多元化的威脅。
與此同時，惡意的編寫者則受到檢查，因為破壞行為的後果很容易被消除。致力於修補破壞的用戶留心著近期的改動，他們在數分鐘之內就可以解決問題——如果不是幾秒鐘的話。人們可以只是通過一擊滑鼠迅速將被毀損的詞條恢復到原先可以接受的版本。這種十分重要的不對稱設計使權力槓桿傾向於wiki社區高效而合作的成員，使保證質量的內容佔到上峰。
越來越多的人正在承認維基百科的可靠性。《休期頓記事報》（Houston Chronicle）或《雪梨前鋒晨報》( Sydney Morning Herald)等報都曾引用過維基百科的詞條，包括從腕管綜合症（carpal tunnel syndrome）到大規模殺傷性武器等廣泛內容。維基百科甚至在訴訟中都被引述。2003年7月在科羅拉多州的一次庭審上，維基百科關於褻瀆的詞條就受到引證，以撤消一件案子。
這個項目的觀點中立政策已經為網際網路上的優質信息提供了一塊重要的試金石。2004年4月， "Jew"一詞在Google上的搜索結果引發了一場爭辯，在線活躍分子用維基百科的內容代替了排在前列而具有爭議性的JewWatch.com網站。通過鼓勵網際網路內容製作者連結到維基百科上的"Jew"這一詞條，基層組織者提高了網站的知名度，這樣在搜索後維基百科會首先顯示。在這家網站的討論區"Joho the Blog"，用戶Joe Buck推薦維基百科時稱它為"一家良好而中立的候選網站，能很快將惡意網站擠出頂端"。
在產生可靠的合作性內容方面，Wikis只是剛剛開始受到人們承認。或許維基百科未來最困難的部分就在於如何維持它自己的成功。儘管維基百科在3年內取得了顯著成就，但由於網站的詞條被設計成總是處在變動和可供編輯的狀態之中，它們的質量顯得參差不齊。單單這條原因就讓人們為其內容擔心。可是，第一次瀏覽網站的訪客如果考慮到這種努力的分散性和國際性，通常會對網站社區的發展狀況留下了很深的印象。
Wales設想有一天能夠讓維基百科1.0版問世--那將是一部以印刷品或光碟形式出現的有形產品，為那些上不了網的人們提供服務。然而這種設想仍然遠離實際，因為人們還在激烈地爭論怎樣做出那種對Wiki顯得不自然的事情--凍結它的內容。而在那一天到來之前，數以千計的編寫者將繼續敲擊鍵盤，就像一大群虛擬空間中的螞蟻，為世界上最大的百科全書忙碌著。
通過首先信任用戶，並且只在必要時建立過濾機制，Wikis展現了良好的信念和簡單的技術是如何利用各種各樣的個體力量產生了合作性的工作的。結果，維基百科讓任何用戶在知識的自由市場中扮演著生產者和消費者的角色。隨著這個世界逐漸走向一體化，維基百科有助於表明網際網路在跟上全球社區的知識和理解方面將起到怎樣的關鍵作用。
Andrew Lih是香港大學新聞和媒體研究中心的副教授
附：原文及網址
http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=3808
Many predicted that the rise of the Internet in the 1990s would herald an information technology 'revolution' that would change almost every aspect of human life. While the reality for many has proven less exciting than the hype, there is one small corner of cyberspace that is living up to the internet's potential as a free, democratic space for the exchange of ideas and information. Wikipedia.com, says media studies scholar Andrew Lih, offers a taste of the real revolutionary power of the internet. As an online encyclopedia, Wikipedia is accessible around the globe for free to anyone with an Internet connection. But the truly momentous achievement of Wikipedia is its openness - the 20,000 plus entries are produced and edited by interested users everywhere. Everyone is invited to upload and amend articles as they see fit. Despite the obvious potential for abuse or vandalism of the site, Lih says, a growing number of dedicated users help ensure that articles are authoritative while censorship is minimized. "As the world becomes increasingly integrated," Lih concludes, "Wikipedia helps illustrate how the Internet will play a crucial role in keeping apace of new knowledge and understanding of the global community." - YaleGlobal
Build an Encyclopedia: Everybody is Invited
Authority is not absent, just dispersed, in online encyclopedia
Andrew Lih
YaleGlobal, 5 May 2004
Wikipedia, which takes its name from the Hawaiian word for 'quick', lets anyone with web access update and revise entries.
HONG KONG: In the last ten years, the Internet has opened up incredible amounts of information to ordinary citizens. But using the Internet can be like walking into a library where the books are all lying on the floor in piles. While tools like Google allow some structured search, much of the data from such searches is outdated or of questionable value. Some web enthusiasts have taken up the task of organizing information through a democratic means that only the Internet allows: an encyclopedia of the people, by the people, and completely free to copy and distribute.
This 'people's encyclopedia' of the Web - a free site called Wikipedia - has provided a unique solution by inviting individuals to participate in the process of rationalizing and updating web content. At the heart of this movement are wikis, web sites that allow users to directly edit any web page with one click of the mouse. (The Hawaiian word for "quick", WikiWiki, is the basis for the wiki name.)
Wikipedia - the largest example of these collaborative efforts - is a functioning, user-contributed online encyclopedia that has become a popular and highly regarded reference in just three years of existence. The goal of Wikipedia was to create an encyclopedia that could be shared and copied freely while encouraging people to change and improve the content. Each and every article has an "Edit this page" button, allowing anyone, even anonymous passersby, to add or delete any content on the page. It seems like a recipe for disaster and chaos, but it has produced surprisingly credible content that has been evaluated and revised by the thousands of international visitors to the site. For many, it finally realizes the original concept of World Wide Web creator Tim Berners-Lee - an online environment where people not only browse content, but freely and actively exchange information.
The Wikipedia project was started by Jimmy Wales, head of Internet startup Bomis.com, after his original project for a volunteer, but strictly controlled, free encyclopedia ran out of money and resources after two years. Editors with PhD degrees were at the helm of the project then, but it produced only a few hundred articles. Not wanting the content to languish, Wales placed the pages on a wiki website in January 2001 and invited any Internet visitors to edit or add to the collection.
The site became a runaway success in the first year and gained a loyal following, generating over 20,000 articles and spawning over a dozen language translations. After two years, it had 100,000 articles, and in April 2004, it exceeded 250,000 articles in English and 600,000 articles in 50 other languages. Over 2,000 new articles are added each day across all the various languages. And according to website rankings at Alexa.com, it has become more popular than traditional online encyclopedias such as Britannica.com and is one of the top 600 most heavily visited websites on the internet.
What could possibly allow this completely open editing system to work? Because wikis provide the ability to track the status of articles, review individual changes, and discuss issues, they function as social software. Wiki web sites also track and store every modification made to an article, so no operation is ever permanently destructive. Wikipedia works largely by consensus, with users adding and modifying content, while trying to reach common ground along the way.
However, the technology is not enough on its own. Wales created an editorial policy of maintaining a neutral point of view (NPOV) as the guiding principle. "NPOV is an absolute non-negotiable requirement of everything that we do," he says. According to Wikipedia's guidelines, "The neutral point of view attempts to present ideas and facts in such a fashion that both supporters and opponents can agree." With this policy, the grassroots project established "journalistic" principles - sticking to the facts, attributing sources and maintaining balance.
As a result, articles on contentious issues such as globalization have benefited from the cooperative and global nature of Wikipedia. Over the last two years, the entry has had more than 90 edits by contributors from the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, United States, Malaysia, Japan and China. It provides a manifold view of issues from the World Trade Organization and multinational corporations to the anti-globalization movement and threats to cultural diversity.
At the same time, malicious contributors are kept in check because vandalism is easily undone. Users dedicated to fixing vandalism watch the list of recent changes, fixing problems within minutes, if not seconds. A defaced article can quickly be returned to an acceptable version with just one click of a button. This crucial asymmetry tips the balance in favor of productive and cooperative members of the wiki community, allowing quality content to prevail.
A growing number of people are recognizing Wikipedia's credibility. News publications such as the Houston Chronicle and the Sydney Morning Herald have cited Wikipedia in articles ranging from carpal tunnel syndrome to weapons of mass destruction. The website has even been cited during litigation. In July 2003, a Wikipedia article on profanity was cited in a motion to dismiss a case in a Colorado court.
The project's neutral point of view policy has provided an important touchstone for quality information on the Internet. In an April 2004 dispute over Google's search results for the term "Jew", online activists were able to displace the controversial top ranking JewWatch.com site with Wikipedia content. By encouraging Internet content creators to link to Wikipedia's "Jew" article, grassroots organizers boosted its popularity so that it would be returned first. On the discussion area of the website, Joho the Blog, user Joe Buck recommended Wikipedia as a "nice, neutral candidate to quickly push the hater site out of first place."
Wikis are just starting to receive recognition for generating credible collaborative content. Perhaps the toughest part of Wikipedia's future is how to manage its own success. While Wikipedia has recorded impressive accomplishments in three years, its articles have a mixed degree of quality because they are, by design, always in flux, and always editable. That reason alone makes people wary of its content. But first time visitors are typically impressed with what the community has developed, considering the decentralized and international nature of the effort.
Wales envisions someday a "1.0" version of Wikipedia - a tangible product in printed form or CD-ROM, serving as a reference work for those not connected to the Internet. But this vision is still far from reality, as there is still contentious debate on how to do something that is unnatural for a wiki - freeze its content. Until then, thousands of contributors will keep typing away, like a massive cyber ant colony, working on the largest encyclopedia in the world.
By trusting users first, and establishing filters only when necessary, wikis show how good faith and simple technology have utilized the power of diverse individuals to create collaborative works. As a result, Wikipedia allows any user to act as producer and consumer in a free marketplace of knowledge. As the world becomes increasingly integrated, Wikipedia helps illustrate how the Internet will play a crucial role in keeping apace of new knowledge and understanding of the global community.
Andrew Lih is an assistant professor at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong.
文章來源：譯者賜稿