[Smt-talk] Wiki

[Dmitri Tymoczko]

I just wanted to second Devin Chaloux's words about Wikipedia.  Wikipedia has its problems but on balance it is a tremendous force for good.  I use it all the time, as do all my students.  (For instance, just today I was reading its helpful discussion of the IS/LM model in macroeconomics, all while riding in a taxi.)  It's not the last word on anything, but it's a pretty good place to go for a quick introduction to many different topics.  

I can definitely think of Wikipedia articles that are better than their Grove counterparts -- the article on "polytonality" comes to mind.  The most recent Grove entry on the subject is just terrible, much worse than the Grove article that preceded it.  I was so astonished when I first read it that I wrote in and offered to fix it.

I got no response, of course, so I went over to Wikipedia and started fixing their discussion of the subject.  Later people have come after me, and the current version isn't exactly what I would write, but it's much, much better than the Grove article -- instead of reflecting one scholar's opinion, it describes a cross section of views in the world.

DT

Dmitri Tymoczko
Associate Professor of Music
310 Woolworth Center
Princeton, NJ 08544-1007
(609) 258-4255 (ph), (609) 258-6793 (fax)
http://dmitri.tymoczko.com