Creation Quote by Mary H.K. Choi
“Wikipedia's a collaborative experiment akin to Simon Winchester's account of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary in 'The Professor and the Madman,' which outlines James Murray's mission to produce the tome in the 19th century.”
About This Quote
Source Essay: The Atlantic, 2021
Draws a parallel between Wikipedia’s collaborative nature and the historic creation of the OED, highlighting collective scholarship.
In simple terms: Wikipedia mirrors the OED’s joint effort.
Key Takeaway
Value collaborative knowledge.
Themes
collaboration
knowledge
history
technology
Mood
analytical
curious
Type
educational
reflective
When to use this quote
- academic research
- open‑source projects
- digital archiving
- educational curricula
Key Concepts
information science
lexicography
Questions to Reflect On
- How do you ensure accuracy in collaborative platforms?
- What lessons does the OED story teach modern editors?
A Different Perspective
Crowdsourced work can spread errors.
![“Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this [step by step, from humans to apes to monkeys to lemurs] - leading us insensibly from the crown and summit of the animal creation down to creatures, from which there is but a step, as it seems, to the…” quote by Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f0b/thomas-huxley-1183_animal_perhaps-no-order-of-mammals-presents-us_3051.jpg)
