New Media and the Knowledge Management: the Wikipedia Project

Encyclopaedism exists since ancient times as an important human activity that materializes in the attempt of gathering and preserving human knowledge in its totality. This article aims at analyzing one of the most important encyclopaedic projects of our modern times, Wikipedia, a free user-generated content internet site, constantly edited and updated by anonymous users forming a virtual community, based on the shared value of free access to knowledge. We focus on describing the Wikipedia’s new media context and its main challenges in order to draw a conclusion about the philosophical importance of such projects as a creative alternative to the corporate media.

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