Hey guys!

I asked Jason Moore, a longtime Wikipedia contributor and wiki enthusiast, to share more about his work on the cannabis information portal he created called Weed.Wiki.

It’s growing into a great resource for all things marijuana – and it will get even better with more input from pot experts in our community and around the world.

I’ve contributed to the site myself, and Moore has been very helpful in teaching me how to use and add to it.

The Weed.Wiki project is one of several wikis hosted by Top Level Design, the Portland-based company behind the “.wiki” domain.

Cheers!
-SueVo (sue.vorenberg@columbian.com)

Check out Moore’s post below:

By Jason Moore
Top Level Design

Whether you know it or not, you are probably reading and using wikis on an almost daily basis.

Wikis are known for hosting and disseminating a sum of knowledge about a particular topic, the collective results of contributions by a group of editors.

Wikipedia, the most famous of all wikis, is one of the world’s most popular websites, and certainly it is the largest and most-used general reference work online. Its prevalence has made the word “wiki” synonymous with information retrieval.

You may also access wiki fan sites, or use one set up by your employer for hosting internal documentation. We all have knowledge we want to share, and wikis are ideal platforms for learning and teaching simultaneously.

I have been contributing to Wikipedia daily for about seven years, and as much as I love the project and its community, I believe there is a need for alternative reference works which allow more in-depth coverage of specific topics.

It is my enthusiasm for wikis in general which has me creating, editing and building communities around wikis for Top Level Design in emerging fields like 3D printing (3DPrinting.Wiki), cryptocurrencies (Coin.Wiki) and cannabis (Weed.Wiki), among others.

My hope is that active communities will assemble around these projects, creating smaller wikis for specific subjects. Each are platforms for people to share their knowledge, serving as quality resources for cultural, historical and current information on a global scale.

Why weed? Without a doubt, pot is a hot topic right now, and all signs show it will likely remain one for some time. Across the globe, jurisdictions are debating its decriminalization, legalization and regulation, and studies are showing more and more medical benefits to cannabis consumption.

New industries are forming before our eyes. Startup companies are setting up shop where they can, introducing increasingly innovative products to growing markets.

As the socio-political tide changes, we are seeing the emergence of marijuana publications, news outlets and blogs to meet the demand of people wanting to inform themselves about marijuana issues and products.

Weed.Wiki caters to these active online communities by inviting all individuals to learn, relate and share their expertise.

Like Wikipedia and most other wikis, Weed.Wiki is a site that anyone can edit. Its purpose is to offer the best possible entries related to marijuana based on collaborative editing and improvements over time.

The site is only a few months old and already it has more than 1,000 pages dedicated to cannabis culture, history, politics, medical information and strains.

Interest has grown steadily, and I anticipate sustained growth as attitudes about marijuana continue to evolve and the industry continues to expand.

There is a need for reliable, quality information about cannabis products, legislation and cultivation, especially as the drug is decriminalized and even legalized in more jurisdictions.

The history of marijuana is full of misinformation; Weed.Wiki provides an opportunity to collect and host accurate information, created by people in real-time and archived for future reference by anyone accessing the site.

Why Weed.Wiki and not Wikipedia?

Well, Wikipedia has strict notability criteria and numerous guidelines and rules which often prevent people from contributing. Weed.Wiki does not enforce the same notability standards, so it can host an entry for every single marijuana strain, dispensary, product and activist, while Wikipedia cannot.

Similarly, Wikipedia does not allow promotional content and strongly discourages conflict of interest editing.

But if you operate a cannabis product or service, you are welcome to contribute to Weed.Wiki. This is not to say Weed.Wiki contributors are not serious about the reliability and accuracy of information. We are simply less interested in policing and more interested in providing information to readers.

Allow me to provide a few examples.

I tend to write about politics and popular culture, from proposed and enacted legislation to current events, such as the decriminalization of marijuana in Philadelphia and the recent Emmy Awards which included numerous references to marijuana.

Other contributors focus their energy on articles related to specific nations or cannabis strains, horticulture, medicinal uses or forms of consumption.

I enjoy creating entries about politicians (see Michael Bloomberg or Barney Frank) and other world leaders or people with power.

In the realm of Hollywood, there are the usual stoner suspects like Willie Nelson and Susan Sarandon, but I try to focus on the (arguably) less obvious celebrities like Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga. Regardless of how one might feel about them or their work, celebrities and politicians have a major influence on our society and culture, and I believe it is important to document the debate over marijuana, its evolution, and how it is perceived over time.

Weed.Wiki has entries for many people, including cannabis activists, actors, athletes, comedians, musicians and other talking heads.

I also like focusing on local cannabis culture, creating entries such as Portland’s World Famous Cannabis Cafe for cities, dispensaries, events, people, policies and strains in the Pacific Northwest.

Ideally, enthusiasts around the world will all write about marijuana history and culture in their city, state or country, essentially making Weed.Wiki an encyclopedia (or, dare I say it), the “Wikipedia for marijuana.”

By empowering individuals to share their expertise in a collaborative manner, Weed.Wiki is poised to become the best online reference source for cannabis, hosting information about consumption, cultivation, health, people and strains, created by people and for people. Adding content to a wiki is very easy.

And the more contributors, the better, so I would invite anyone interested in any aspect of marijuana to join this growing community.

To contribute to Weed.Wiki, simply create a username by clicking on “Request account” in the top right corner of the wiki, or by visiting the request account page. Once confirmed, you may expand or improve any page by simply clicking on the “Edit” tab at the top. You can also follow Weed.Wiki on Facebook or on Twitter at @WeedDotWiki. Happy editing!