Non-Prophets vs. Corporate America

June 20, 2005 8:08 PM

Knowmore.org is a Wiki repository of corporate information. Still in its infancy, it aims to applaud eco-friendly companies and document the failings of others. Funded almost entirely by hip-hopper Sage Francis of Non-Prophets and Anticon fame, it is no surprise Clear Channel is currently featured on the front page. Hopefully the Wiki format will keep it somewhat balanced as it grows.
posted by sophist (12 comments total)

[this is going to get really good]
posted by Embryo at 8:45 PM on June 20, 2005

[...'specially if we all help]
posted by Embryo at 8:46 PM on June 20, 2005

I do love Sage Francis. Hopefully he's just as good fighting non eco-friendly companies as he is rapping about slaughtering a cow.
posted by vodkadin at 8:51 PM on June 20, 2005

Pretty cool.
posted by NickDouglas at 9:25 PM on June 20, 2005

Oh, also, Knowmore covers more than just the eco-friendliness of corporations; it deals with all facets of their business practices -- human rights, worker's rights, lobbying, globalization/fair trade, environmentalism, and overall business ethics.
posted by Embryo at 9:36 PM on June 20, 2005

Very true, in fact their rating system neatly breaks those categories down for a quick overview. Perhaps the proper phrase should have been social responsibility, not merely eco-friendliness. I really hope this catches on, it has great potential.
posted by sophist at 10:01 PM on June 20, 2005

See also: Sourcewatch (formerly Disinfopedia).
posted by Tlogmer at 10:29 PM on June 20, 2005

Not to toot our own horn, but Knowmore was developed by the fine folks at Polycot, using MediaWiki and phpBB2. Austin, Texas represent!
posted by jeffkramer at 11:19 PM on June 20, 2005

I dislike that it's not a "real" wiki. You have to register, and then get permission to edit it. This wiki has exactly the kind of top-down command-and-control attitude that causes corporations to do evil.

(I just wanted to fix a spelling mistake on the home page, but I can't.)
posted by mediaddict at 11:20 AM on June 21, 2005

Mediaddict, that's totally a valid concern. For what it's worth, it's a topic that has been under discussion.

The reason why you have to be a trusted user is due to the nature of the content. If this site gets to any reasonable volume of traffic, which it should, the temptation for corporations to muck with the content is going to be huge. It's really not hard at all to become a trusted user; access is not restricted based on idealogy and there's no command-and-control happening at all. Register for the site and make a post in the forums and you'll be good to go.
posted by Embryo at 11:48 AM on June 21, 2005

mediaaddict,

while we do have very good reason to expect corporate tampering once the site gets larger, and the verification system was created for that purpose, your post has caused some re thinking of 'preemptively' using the verification process.

we're going to talk some more with the site's designers about opening up the wiki to everyone until vandalism actually rears its head.

thanks :)
-bernard
co founder, knowmore.org
posted by bernard@knowmore at 12:13 PM on June 21, 2005

anything that creates a barrier to adding information at this stage is probably bad. knowmore needs a lot more information and user input at this point, so i think removing the restrictions for now is a good idea.
posted by sophist at 1:22 PM on June 21, 2005