A couple of years ago, when I first wrote this weblog, I got involved with the Open Directory, a collaborative human-edited directory of the Web. I became an editor of the Square Dancing category (which, by the way, currently needs an editor). I mentioned the Open Directory a couple of times: here and here.

I also mentioned Nupedia, an open source, collaborative encyclopedia. Well, Nupedia looks like it’s going nowhere; the latest article was posted more than a year ago . However, there’s another project, the Wikipedia, a WikiWiki site devoted to building an open content encyclopedia that may have taken away Nupedia’s impetus. Nupedia has (had?) an elaborate review system for every article. Wikipedia is open; anybody can edit any article at any time. For more info, see the entry on Wikipedia in the encyclopedia itself.

This open format has clearly encouraged contributions. While the Nupedia had no entry on square dancing, Wikipedia has several, including:

• Square Dance
• Western Square Dance
• Contra
• Gay Square Dancing

. And all can be edited at any time. We could make it a definitive reference.