The World Yôgapedia Project

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Marina on July 8, 2009 at 5:32pm

Hi Julio,

I think there's some value to having a yoga wiki, as long as the information provided is accurate and useful. There's not much info on there, but I guess that's because it's new. Hopefully in time, more people would contribute to it. Question, how would it be different from the yoga content found on Wikipedia?

Marina

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Júlio silva on July 8, 2009 at 6:12pm

Hi sweet dear Marina,

Yes, it was just launched on 21st June 2009, with time more and more internet users will contribute. Regarding the accuracy of information there is a study in Scientific America which compared some definitions from Wikipedia and from Britannica, and the fact is that the information was comparable equally accurate, with the advantage that whenever there was a need to correct some mistakes, or to add additional information resulting from new discoveries, it was Wikipedia the faster online encyclopedia to have its information updated. So Wikipedia-like free collaborative online encyclopedia have resulted in accurate information. For your question if it will have different content then Wikipedia concerning Yôga, I guess it will be different in the verticalization and specialization idea that I described, it will have similar information, but more focus, because its a verticalization of the topic Yôga, we will see that one thing is to have one generalist encyclopedia with topics like Tantra, Sámkhya, Vêdanta, Hinduism, and also Yôga. Another thing is to address all those topics on the umbrella and the specific correlation and perspective of Yôga. Thats the verticalization benefit and added value, our theory at least :-)

SwáSthya!
Júlio Silva
Disciple of João Camacho, Yôgachárya
Ashram Môksha
http://www.ourculture.org/

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Marina on July 8, 2009 at 8:59pm

Thanks for the explanation. I see value in the specialization of content, and centralizing yoga content in one area. As long as there's no duplication of content that's already on Wikipedia, and with a focus on information that is not available anywhere else, then I think it'll be valuable.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Brenda Feuerstein on August 4, 2009 at 1:20pm

As long as you have people that are not specialists in the field contributing to the service, there will be many errors, as there are on so many sites online. Inaccurate information is misleading to students and can cause misunderstandings that are passed on to other people.

Wikipedia is full of inaccuracies and unfortunately, the general public relies on this service far too much instead of actually searching for a book that is written by an authority in the field.

Another point is that many people have the habit of taking information from one site and loading it up (or copying it) on another site without respecting copyright laws. How would you address people taking a definition from someone's book and/or website and loading it up on to Yoga Wiki since this would in fact be an infringement of international copyright laws?

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by kanak soni on August 5, 2009 at 10:36am

Yoga is a way of life, a conscious act, not a set or series of learning principles. The dexterity, grace, and poise you cultivate, as a matter of course, is the natural outcome of regular practice. You require no major effort.

▶ Reply to This