Wiki and freelance knowledge work

From Meta, a Wikimedia project coordination wiki

see also Wikimania:Roundtables

  • Journalism: cf. the German Press Association and their coping with freelancers, Wikinews, the new Gillmor conception of citizen journalism in the US; Indymedia; and OhMyNews. How are new opportunities opening up through wikis, even as others are closing?
  • Publishing: cf. dead-tree reference works, dictionary.com, answers.com, Wikipedia, the Logos Dictionary, WP CD/DVD plans. How are new new publishing opportunities emerging, and which old publishing structures are disappearing. How are freelance authors contributing to the body of printed literature and scholarship; and how is this helping and harming various fields?
  • Academia: See the note on freelance authors above. Open Journals, arXiv.org, etc. are expanding the audience for modern journals... how is this helping and harming the state of knowledge and the trust in published works in these fields? How is the institution of peer review in general changing?