161 - Wikipedia compie 70 anni: World Brain e l’idea della “Enciclopedia mondiale permanente”
Autore/i: Romolo M. Dorizzi
Rivista: RIMeL - IJLaM, Vol. 4, N. 3, 2008 (MAF Servizi srl ed.)
Pagina/e: 161-165
Internet is widely described as a revolutionary development of the late 20th century and it must be recognized that Internet is a creation of the computer age. Nevertheless, it is also an evolutionary development in the dissemination of information that can be traced back to the Library of Alexandria. We recently discussed the role of Vannevar Bush, a public figure well known in the United States (less in Europe) who produced in 1945 a remarkable design concept anticipating the World Wide Web. He designed - or rather, envisioned - a machine he called the memex (“MEMory EXtender), a stunning sort of web browser rendered for the technology of the time. Even less known, at least in Italy, is the role of H.G. Wells in creating the cultural premises of World Wide Web and, in particular, of Wikipedia. Wells was born in 1866, and, after irregular studies and a few years as a teacher, started a career as science fiction writer and novelist. He wrote several novels (e.g. The Invisible Man, The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, When the Sleeper Wakes, The First Men in the Moon, The Man Who Could Work Miracles) and became one of the most famous people in the world. He developed the idea that a World Brain was needed: an amalgam of the knowledge contained in the World’s great libraries, museums, and universities. He lectured and wrote articles which were later published in a volume (World Brain) according to which facsimiles of the rarest books, manuscripts, pictures and specimens, produced by microfilm technique, could be made easily and extensively accessible. By means of the microfilm, the rarest and most intricate documents could be studied at first hand, simultaneously, in several projection rooms. Wells anticipates Wikipedia when envisions “A great number of workers would be engaged perpetually in perfecting this index of knowledge”. The World Brain is very similar to Wikipedia which has been created by Jimmy Wales 2001 and includes 8.2 million articles in 253 different languages. The English Wikipedia alone includes nearly two million articles, and has a wordlength fifteen times that of the Encyclopedia Britannica. The Wikipedia system has basic policies which require articles be written from a neutral point of view, use verifiable sources, and include no original research.