The Editors: A Book Review

I know enough about the Internet, websites, and digital media to be dangerous. I have no idea about how some of these things work, but I find them useful. One website I use regularly is Wikipedia. I occasionally see notes there about “insufficient citations”, “major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with the subject,” or “article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed.” I did not have a clue what these notations mean, who provides them, or how corrections are made until I read The Editors.

The Editors by Stephen Harrison (no relation) provides some insight about this type of resource. With assistance from some within the Wikipedia community, Harrison has written a “reported work of fiction” about Infopendium.org, a global source of information, and its impact on society.

Harrison’s characters help us understand what drives

a person to devote a significant portion of their lives to editing a worldwide encyclopedia—power, greed, altruism, love, status—common human emotions that motivate us to commit ourselves to causes or activities. In our turbulent political and social environment, we need to be discerning about our sources of information and what drives those who provide them. The Editors reminds us of that need.

He also helps us understand how the growth of digital media impacts the traditional news sources that we have depended on for years. Certainly, this change should not be a surprise given the omnipresence of the Internet, but I think he provides a warning that we have lost something important in this transition.

Even if you are only an occasional Wikipedia user, reading this book will engage and educate you.

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