Thodoris Colovos - Course Commentary

Hello.

About

My name is Thodoris Colovos. I m an MA student at London College of Communication concentrating on critical theory in the field of cultural policy. I currently live in New York and work as a communications consultant for NGO's and Culture industry companies in Europe. I m here to learn more about the internet.

Assignments

#1: Wikipedia

old page: http://tiny.cc/oknRE

new page: http://tiny.cc/AKYGf

I chose to contribute on the wiki page about Cultural Policies of the European Union. This is a subject i am familiar with and would like to associate with my final project. Therefore, the data gathered through the habit of continuously updating the wiki may contribute towards my understanding on the subject, and the nontraditional approach i should adopt for studying the content layer of the internet. Another reason for choosing this page was the strong luck of content it presented, giving me the space to extensively expand the article.

After comparing the rules of wikipedia with the article it seemed that there was no significant breach of terms related to the neutral point of view policy on the existing text (only minor obeisant expressions signifying that the text was copied from a webpage for the promotion of cultural policies, perhaps the website of the european union) however the data presented were in many cases confusing, irrelevant with the subject and incomplete, classifying partly as an original research article. I decided to keep only text that had the potential of expansion after re-categorizing and re-positioning it. The introduction did not explain or analyze the meaning of the terminology appearing on the title so I enhanced it by breaking the subject on a basic encyclopedic level clarifying where the actual term derives from and what it stands for. I have also chose to develop a language flow that makes the article broadly accessible, avoiding assumptions and terms that are not fully explained either on the page or through a wiki or other link. After conducting a brief research on cultural policy-making in the EU, I categorized the information found to factual and critical and distributed it accordingly. Factual information derived from data gathered by official webpages and papers (institutions, organizations and bodies) whilst critical information originated from academic writing, essays and articles available online. I continued by evaluating the core structure of the wiki and how the authors categorized the subject. It seemed an incoherent following of information that led me on deleting most parts of its structure text. The subject is part of a social development happening now. A diachronic classification was missing. I decided to re-build the contents of the page following a historical timeline starting from the origins of EU policy making and concluding with criticism reflecting the future effect of what has already happened:

1. The history and development of cultural policy-making 2. The strategy and methods that have been adopted 3. The institutions and bodies currently operating 4. Which policies exist by sector (Arts, Sports, Language) 5. The impact of cultural policies (European identity, urban regeneration, expansion of the European Union and rising criticism)

The more time i spent with the wiki page, the further i could continue categorizing the subject.

Internet based research is not easy as true facts are difficult to find. It was easier to find knowledge and opinion-based data than the actual data that articles or essays were referring to or were based on (laws,budgets,decision reports, conference notes). It became obvious to me that unlike historic non-current facts, the more one approaches today when researching the internet the less it is possible to filter effectively the information available. Neutrality of the resource material (current media articles, speeches,academic books) is difficult to establish. It is also often coming across data that constantly change or update. If this neutrality is impossible to detect, perhaps the best solution is to publish a combination of opposing opinions or the full time-based developing of an issue (this needs a constant watch on the issue and a parallel wiki update) Another important observation i made was that when establishing factual information for shifting issues the approach can only be a qualitative one as quantitative information is very often unavailable. This is important as it might be significant for defying the role of the developing information economy and its audience. When knowledge is not a necessity reality understanding may shift from fact establishing to simple currency observation. The information added on the wiki might not be complete however its structure and new references clarify the subject following a rational line that allows users to begin conversation over content. I intend to continue research on the subject and updating the wiki, and look forward on reactions, conversations and editing from other users.

Contact

Feel free to contact me and share: thodoris@thodoris.com