Open Access News

Known as Digital Universe, [Larry Sanger's new] project is an attempt to present a diverse collection of information on just about any topic imaginable. Some will be links to other Web resources, while some will be citizen journalism. But the highest-profile part of the project is likely to be its encyclopedia. And while its entries will be written by the general public, the project is distinguishing itself from Wikipedia by having many entries vetted and certified as accurate by subject-area experts. Thus, the Digital Universe will attempt to become the largest and--its founders hope--most reliable, source of freely-accessible, publicly-created information on the Web. And as such, the project has already and will continue to line up a series of Ph.D.s to serve as "stewards." To pay them for their services, the Digital Universe Foundation has lined up more than $10 million in initial funding.

Q: Explain what Digital Universe is.
Sanger: It will be a non-commercial, free or open content authoritative information resource that mirrors reality. You can think of the Digital Universe as a set of portals, each defined by a topic, such as the planet Mars. And from each portal, there will be links to the best resources on the Web, including a lot of resources of different kinds that are prepared by experts and the general public under the management of experts. This will include an encyclopedia, as well as public domain books, participatory journalism, forums of various kinds and so forth. We'll build a community of experts and an online collaborative network of independent organizations, each of which has authority over its own discipline to select material and to build resources that are together displayed through a single free-information platform....

What was your interest in getting involved?
It started with an article I wrote, which is now infamous, at least among Wikipedia's defenders--of which I am one, actually. It was called "Why Wikipedia must jettison its anti-elitism." Joe Firmage and Bernie Haisch, Digital Universe's founders, saw it and agreed with it. At the time they were thinking about developing the content for the Digital Universe. And they thought my notion--that a radically collaborative open encyclopedia project like Wikipedia could actually be run by experts with stronger community standards of civility--was essentially what they were looking for. And Joe presented me with the opportunity to be a key part of something that was not just coherent with the idea that I had with Nupedia and Wikipedia working together. It took that general idea of an outrageously productive, but extremely reliable resource and extended it....

Why would someone write an article for Digital Universe instead of Wikipedia?
I see the Digital Universe encyclopedia--which will be just one part of a much larger whole--and Wikipedia as occupying socially complementary niches. Together they will provide the broadest opportunities for people of all sorts to contribute to encyclopedias. But now, a whole new group of people, who were--for whatever reason--not willing to work on Wikipedia, might find a home in the Digital Universe encyclopedia. Wikipedia will and should always exist as a radically unconstrained alternative. But the Digital Universe will be more attractive to those members of the public who actually want to work with and under the direction of experts. There are many such people, I think--probably more than are willing to work in the wild-and-woolly atmosphere of Wikipedia. The Digital Universe will require the use of real names, and will be initiated under an enforceable community charter....

And why would someone want to be a Digital Universe expert?
There are three broad reasons. First, the Digital Universe vision is of a free, nonprofit, and authoritative information resource, never before tried, and we hope that will appeal to many academics. Second, the Digital Universe Foundation will be well positioned to receive grants, and will be the recipient of monies from an ISP service; this we will pass on to stewards. Third, we expect that, once the influence of so many intellectuals is aggregated in a single place, leadership positions in the Digital Universe will quickly gain value in tenure and advancement committees. It may take time for all of this to happen, of course. But we are certainly working hard to make it happen.