New Answers New Credibility Questions

Some of the ways that universities maybe nudged into adaptation or death are possibly already out there. Wikipedia has demonstrated some of the potential of Internet developments in knowledge and credibility. Mike Love at Smart Mobs notes two other examples; Yahoo answers and an earlier experiment in South Korea. Mike raises questions about Yahoo answers on the basis of some of the Questions and Answers he’s found. The Korean example was far more successful, dramatically successful. So one question is whether the Yahoo system is not quite working, (on a coffee break when I first looked at it!) or whether the difference between success and lack of it can be explained by cultural differences.

There are one or two other things going on where some vote-based peer review decides on what is news or not, like

All of these suggest ways in which the big credibility question is being answered very differently from the traditional university model. They are young; they have flaws; they’re designed to do different things; they are no competition. Yet. But where do their ideas lead us? And what are the implications for universities?