I do not collaborate. I dictate. I tell. I lead. Inspiration is the only thing my colleagues get from me. And they get it in spades. If and when I work with someone on something it will be with someone from the Bush Dynasty or Jesus and it will probably be on something grandiose like World Peace or reuniting Brad Pitt with Jennifer Aniston. But, in the name of not being difficult, I shall break with tradition. I shall tell my story. But to weave this tale, we need to go back to the beginning. Back to a time almost forgotten, one could say a time that should be forgotten. Because on that day a mould was broken, a legacy forged. Fasten your seatbelts because I shall paint a museum of pictures for you. A lyrical masterpiece, a tapestry of imaginary colours, dipicting the day that I, Smokey Thebandito, collaborated on a wiki.
I was a young boy, on the cusp of entering puberty. I had yet to see the country side of my native lands let alone travel the world. But I was an excited young boy. My parents, Ma and Da Thebandito, had come to me with an offer. An opportunity. I was old enough to to escort my younger brother Wispy to the Northern Cities. Our uncle was a Chancillor there. And Wispy was yet to meet him. I knew the way, I had studied geography and orienteering as a little child, finishing 114th in my class. We were to travel alone, Uncle Palpatine would charter a plane for us back home from the Northern Cities. The morning arrived, I helped Da saddle our horses. Ma tied Wispy down so he could not fall and we rode off. Looking back, those were not only my first steps on the journey north but my first steps out of boyhood. My first steps towrds becoming a man.
Our first stop was a inland fishing village called Taihape. Taihape was a rough town, a dangerous town to stop. But Wispy and I had riden non stop since day break. We needed nourishment. We hitched our mounts and treaded into the central Tea Rooms on Main street. We were new in town, did not know the customs, or what to order. In an attempt to sound casual I asked for the specialty of the house. When this was persented to me, even though it was early in the morning, I was struck with stars. A massive bowl was glistened in front of me. A giant meat pie in the middle. A giant meat pie that was floating. In a sea of rich, dark gravey.
Fast forward many years later and I was working in a library. Strolling through the internet, familiarising myself with a new technology I came across a site called Wikipedia. I marvelled at the information this site held. I could look up all the places I had been. I could revisit Taihape. Revisit my one and only experience with The floating pie. But there was no mention of this invention! I hurridly logged in, became a member with editing rights and went forth to collaborate. I wrote about the floating pie, how I had tried them in other places but none were as magical as this first one from Taihape. I published and sat back, proud. There was my work, in black and white, describing something dear to my heart. But upon checking the next day my contribution had been deleted by the admin! Not deemed worthy enough. Or deemed falsified, made up even. I was heart broken, destroyed. On my knees, with only the driving rain to keep me up, I screamed. I cried. How? Why? I vowed then and there, that it'd be a cold day in Wellington before I ever collaborated on anything again.
There are now many different wiki's out there on all sorts of subjects. Useful information under many different genres. Inforation can be shared. A wiki represents a collective, a hive mind. Remember at the end of Starship Troopers when Neil Patrick Harris was confronted with the giant bug that controlled all the other bugs . That was a wiki. It has the potential to be a definititive source of information, not from one being, but from a collective, a burden of knowledge shared, from one person to the other. Wikis could be the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment