Radical Trust: Just as Murphy was an optimist, so also the Epistelesslogical Rupture is a MOZART

Just as Murphy [of Murphy's Law] is said to have been an optimist, so also the Epistelesslogical Rupture one day will be said to have been a Most-Of-Ze'time Advocate for Radical Trust, or MOZART.

In an April 2006 blog entry, Darlene Fichter describes radical trust this way:

Radical trust is about trusting the community. We know that
abuse can happen, but we trust (radically) that the community and participation
will work. In the real world, we know that vandalism happens but we still put
art and sculpture up in our parks. As an online community we come up with
safeguards or mechanisms that help keep open contribution and participation
working.

The Epistelesslogical Rupture celebrates and embraces the idea of radical trust, but the Epistelesslogical Rupture does not put all of its proverbial eggs in one radical basket of trust; nor does the Epistelesslogical Rupture wholly swallow, digest, and incorporate the idea of radical trust, complete with its literary hook, metaphorical line, and reality-testing sinker.

"Trust thy public, even those radicals among them," saith the Epistelesslogical Rupture unto the Skokians. "But be ye realistick also. Sometimes, as with them who are called "teen-agers," trust may need to be earned."

As one who was trained to be a publishing professional in a previous career, the Epistelesslogical Rupture initially flinched at the notion of empowering anyone and everyone with Internet access and a passion for creativity (i.e., not just the Privileged Few with Professional Training and Expensive Degrees)to be a publisher, or a writer, or an editor, or a photographer -- or all of these. But the tools of Web 2.0 in some sense do bring the power to the people; the design of Web 2.0 tools acknowledges that each person has the right/choice/power to contribute something to the community.

The Epistelesslogical Rupture often used Wikipedia to learn about the unfamiliar terms the Epistelesslogical Rupture encountered every few paragraphs in certain graduate school classes. Professors used Wikipedia as a teaching tool and recommended it as a research tool. There seem to be far fewer voices calling for the end of Wikipedia these days; perhaps the grand, old-fashioned, leather-bound, expensive, omniscient encyclopedia publisher's lobbying budget has dried up.

Last summer, the Epistelesslogical Rupture helped a professor-friend to prepare and contribute a requested entry for a non-wikiesque, ink-on-paper encyclopedia. In this process, the Epistelesslogical Rupture realized how, while the entry covered all the bases for this professor's lifelong, encyclopedic knowledge of the assigned topic, it is basically one man's thought on the topic. A wiki version of the same encyclopedia entry would have a radically different flavor, or combination of flavors. A young student, or an armchair philosopher, or a casual reader could have a stab at contributing to the entry, and in participating in the collaborative effort, all could learn from one another's wisdom.