I've been reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books again (there are five: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; The Restaurant at the End of the Universe; Life, the Universe and Everything; So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish and Mostly Harmless) and I was thinking... Have you ever thought of how The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (which from now on I'll refer to as HHGG) is maintained and written? In the book, it is described as one great book (with the words "Don't Panic" on the cover) that is written by many people around the Galaxy. All they do is hitchhike and write about their experiences and what they get to know about places, people and things.
So, my point is: The HHGG is a wiki! Has anybody ever thought of that? The HHGG is pretty much a Wikipedia, I think. The only difference is that it is a little harder to sign up as a HHGG writer. :) What do you think of my "insight"? :)
Well, and as I said, this post was supposed to be completely understandable for "normal" people, so, I'm going to explain what a Wiki is, and what is the Wikipedia (although you could just click the links and read a much more detailed explanation... in Wikipedia!).
A wiki (it's pronounced "weekie") is a type of website that allows users to dynamically add, edit or remove contents to it very easily. You may need a registration to that website or not, it depends on who is running that particular wiki. Wikis are considered today a great collaboration tool, allowing users to exchange information in a very easy and efficient way. There are several softwares that would let you create a wiki website, but the most famous one is the MediaWiki. The first implemented wiki (and I say "implemented wiki" because I'm considering here that the first "thought wiki" was the HHGG) was the WikiWikiWeb, created in 1995 by Ward Cunningham.
Finally, the Wikipedia is a large free encyclopaedia based on the MediaWiki software, and being an opened wiki, anyone can edit it, add contents, change it, mould it and even ruin it. But it works! Nowadays it has more articles than the British Encyclopaedia and it contains much updated information, since there is a bunch of volunteers updating it everyday. I believe it's one of today's greatest tools. Of course you can find bogus information inside Wikipedia, but it has developed a system of auditing itself that has been working fantastically. The Wikipedia is funded by The Wikimedia Foundation, and was created by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. But, unfortunally, it doesn't have the words "Don't Panic" on its cover.
To finalize, back to the main topic, The HHGG. Read it, it's a funny, very British, and very crazy book. If you're geek, you're gonna like it. The movie is good, but not as great as the books. And think about it being a wiki. And Let me know what you think. And let's stop the sentences starting with "and", because it's not a very good practice.