Wikis Go Web 2.0 with OpenServing

I just learned a couple days ago that Wikia is launching Openserving, which will freely host wikis and will allow each wiki owner to keep 100% of advertising revenue. These freely hosted wikis will not be plain vanilla MediaWiki wikis. They will be wikis that have been souped up to incorporate elements of social web communities like Digg. An example of what I’m talking about can be viewed at the ArmchairGM website. Wikia, which is a for-profit organization started by the Wikipedia founders, has purchased ArmchairGM for $2 million in cach and Wikia stock.

Could the Living Philosophy Wiki Find a Better Home in the Openserving Community?

As soon as I learned about Openserving, my first thought was that the Openserving community may be a more appropriate location for the Living Philosophy Wiki. I had several reasons in mind. First, the Digg-like features would make it easier for participants to get started. Second, even if they did not contribute content themselves, they could still vote on the content and comments of others. Third, I would never have to worry about server space or bandwidth, if the philosophy wiki should ever become very successful. Fourth, the wiki would be located in more of a community space and less my personal space. Fifth, people may be more willing to invest their participation in a community site they know has a better chance of lasting and of being visited by others. Therefore, curious about the Openserving community-to-be, I registered for a site.

The Problem with Subcategories

The first thing I noticed was that I would not be able to start a philosophy wiki without choosing a subcategory such as epistemology, ethics or metaphysics. This immediately changed everything. As I wrote when I started the Living Philosophy Wiki, one of my main inspirations was Ken Wilber’s integral philosophy. The concept integral means many things when it is fully grasped. One thing it does not mean is a heap of parts or subcategories that are not part of a greater whole, a greater whole that trascends all of them and gets them all working together.

Still, Openserving Will Be “Where It’s At” - and I Guess Ken Wilber Will Be Okay without Me, Anway

In spite of my critique, the Openserving philosophy wikis will no doubt attract more traffic and participation than my little philosophy wiki. I guess Ken Wilber will have to worry about the development of his integral philosophy himself. I never knew exactly how I was going to go about improving it, anyway, without bringing his ire upon my wiki. I couldn’t exactly violate copyright by duplicating all his texts in my wiki. Even if I could, he would probably just love it if a whole community of people were to go at his texts with their own edits. Heh.

I’ve Come Full Circle but Fully Let Go This Time

After considering all of the above factors, I have come full circle, back to the place where I was when I wrote that the Living Philosophy Wiki may just be my personal wiki for now. There is one difference this time, though. Now there are going to be other philosophy wikis out there, besides mine, and they will be “where it’s at”. With that in mind, I have let go of the last of my hesitations about personalizing my philosophy wiki. In fact, I have decided to change its name to the DreamFishery Philosophy Wiki and to change the whole way that it’s organized. For now and for a long time to come - and maybe always - it’s going to be all about the weird thoughts that I get as I write The Myth of Merula. Not only the writing of the Myth of Merula, but also the fiction research I do along the way - research that may or may not wind up actually getting used in The Myth of Merula - will feed into the philosophy wiki. People will still be able to participate in adding and editing content to it at any time. They may or may not ever feel motivated to do so, to any great extent. Either way, I will be content. Of course, I will always hold out the hope that a conversation will ensue within the wiki and that it will lead to content greater than I could have imagined or written alone.

Other Posts Categorized as Philosophy Wiki:

• The Philosophy Wiki is Back - December 31st, 2007
• I Accidentally Wiped Out All My Philosophy Wiki Data - April 4th, 2007
• More Than One Way to Skin a Wiki - December 11th, 2006
• The Living Philosophy Wiki May Just Be My Personal Philosophy Wiki for Now - December 2nd, 2006
• A Little Bit of Philosophy about Perfectionism about Philosophy - July 22nd, 2006
• Living Philosophy Wiki - July 15th, 2006

Other Posts Categorized as Wikis:

• Rounded Sassy MediaWiki Skin Available for Download - January 14th, 2007
• New Rounded Blue Edition MediaWiki Skin Available for Download - January 13th, 2007
• More Than One Way to Skin a Wiki - December 11th, 2006
• Cool Open-Source Hardware and Machines - December 2nd, 2006
• Wiki on Feminist Science Fiction and Musings on Legolas - July 21st, 2006
• Living Philosophy Wiki - July 15th, 2006
• Campaigns Wikia - July 7th, 2006