[Sigia-l] don't pick and refuse me

[James Weinheimer]

> I could tell you how every being has *a right* to decide their own
> destiny. That we are all *both* genuine and capable. That *partiality*
> is akin to fascism -- that it is irresponsible and unethical to support
> a viewpoint which suggests one individual knows better (by any means)
> than another individual -and moreover- the 'more knowledgeable'
> individual has *a right,* as you continually state Ziya, to 'correct'
> and 'control' the other based on perceived self-superiority, or
> perceived inferiority in the other.

This is an interesting idea: the fact that if an expert exists, it means
that non-experts have less freedom and/or control; that others are inferior.
An expert--by definition--means that he or she knows more than others.
There are some things I am very competent to handle, but the fact is, there
are many other areas in my life that I am completely incompetent to
handle--I can't even make a decent judgement about them. What are those
areas? My legal affairs, my medical affairs, my plumbing, work done on my
car. The list goes on and on. If I care about those matters, I *must* seek
out an expert or two, ask his/her advice and believe them. If I think I know
more than they do, I'm just wrong.

An interesting aspect is to consider this in respect with information: who
is competent to determine what information I need? In a library, all these
decisions are made by professional librarians. They make decisions
concerning what goes into a library and what is not, and how it is described
and organized.

All of these people from doctors to plumbers to librarians are knowledgeable
(experts in their fields) and ruled by a code of ethics (or, at least, we
hope so).

We are all free to make our own decisions: I am free to make the dopiest
decisions concerning my plumbing and wind up standing hip-deep in water. If
I am smart, I will admit that I am incompetent and that the best decision is
to ask an expert for help.

I would hope that IA produces experts who can make the right decisions. If
there are "right" decisions, it follows that there "wrong" decisions. An
expert should make fewer "wrong" decisions. A part of these decisions
includes making a site to the very best of the expert's ability, based on
knowledge and judgement.

Leaving everything to the discretion of the user based on an idea of
"freedom" seems to me to entirely shirk the responsibility of making a
usable website.

James Weinheimer