A Germany-based group called PediaPress is trying to raise enough money to print all of Wikipedia. They are looking to show, in tangible terms, how Wiki has grown, and all of the information that it encompasses.
But here’s the thing: we know the power of Wikipedia. Regardless of how many professors tell us it is not to be used as a “credible” source, that is where a lot of us go for quick and easy information at our fingertips and just a few clicks on Google. We use Wiki to look up anything we would ever need to know: we understand and respect it in the online format that it’s in.
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So why kill trees to show the world in print? Why bother with the time, effort and money that it would take to show people something that they know already?
Let’s face it – we have seen the Wikipedia pages that are useless. People think it would be hilarious to make one for themselves, or do so on a drunk dare, but are we really going to take the time to print those out as well? And with information and new pages being added hourly, there is no way to keep up on the influx of edits.
We may be able to see what Wikipedia looks like at one snapshot in time, but it won’t stay that way for long. Don’t waste the time and leave the online encyclopedia where it belongs – behind our computer screens.
