Advanced Interactive Media/Other Topics/Competition for Wikipedia

Of all the emerging technologies and advancements in communication, social networking paired with user created/contributed content is at an all-time high. We have websites like digg.com (one of my faves) that allows you to customize your profile to show you news related to what you are most interested in. Digg offers an easy online community for users to submit stories, photos, videos, etc.

Digg was founded by former TechTV host Kevin Rose and originally was more tech-geared. Digg has since seen an open market and expanded to allow users to submit news in other categories such as sports, entertainment, politics, etc. Digg's user base is still largely the tech community, so it's a great resource to keep up to date. Stories get voted on and promoted to the "front page". Once submitted, these stories can be commented on and "dugg", which is creating a social bookmark.

There are the obvious trendsetters in these communities such as Digg, Deli.cio.us, StumbleUpon, YouTube, MySpace, and Wikipedia just to name a few. Where are the competitors? In current news...a Wikipedia rival is set for release this week. Citizendium is the new guy on the block. Citizendium was created by Larry Sanger, many would call the co-founder of Wikipedia. What is so great about Citizendium? The questions that are raised by the online community are "Would Wikipedia be better if its contributors fully identified themselves? Would Wikipedia be better if it solicited guidance from academics and other specialists?" Citizendium takes a different approach in attempting to tackle these problems. Content can only be edited by approved editors who have credentials to prove their credibility. Editors/users must also use their real names when submitting and editing. According to sources, "Its volunteer-base numbers roughly 900 authors and 200 editors. The site has 1,100 articles, with 11 'approved' by editors."

For more info read the full article.

Wikipedia Competitor Seeks to Cut Out Errors