OT: Web Inaccuracy Re: museums of misinformation

From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis_at_mcmanis.com>
Date: Wed May 19 12:23:30 1999

At 12:43 PM 5/19/99 -0400, Allison ranted:
>I see this sort of error, cru mmy pictures (lowres, dark or not
>informational)all too often.

There is probably a Phd thesis in this statement. In fact much of the data
on the web supplied by 3rd parties is either misleading, inaccurate, or
simply wrong. Its rampant in the 3D graphics sites because students of 3D
graphics evolve:
        1) I'm clueless so I read stuff and search the web.
        2) I write up a web site which documents my journey
           and is full of my own misunderstandings.
        3) I learn the truth but I'm so busy I don't have time
           to go back and update the web pages.
        
The result, a lot of stuff sits around that is wrong.

Then this is counterbalanced by another phenomena which has been
documented[1] but isn't understood. Ask a large enough crowd of people
_any_ question and collect all the answers from all of them and the mean
will be very close to the correct answer _even if no one in the crowd has
any relevant experience_! So the web also has this going for it.

--Chuck

[1] - This was reported widely in the press about 12 years ago but given
the fogginess of age the specific citation fails to surface. I believe the
paper was titled, "The amazing accuracy of crowds" or thereabouts.
Received on Wed May 19 1999 - 12:23:30 BST