As experiments in collective authorship through digital media go, the various encyclopedia have it comparatively easy. The Penguin publishing house, in collaboration with De Montfort University in the UK, has started an experiment in collective writing of a novel which, if early results are an indication, might prove the unfortunate truth of at least one interpretion of the expression: ‘many hands make light work’ . It’s live, it’s now and it’s open to influence at: http://www.amillionpenguins.com/wiki/index.php/About. The real question is what it will look like after a few weeks? Will people deliberately try to make nonsense or will a narrative emerge? Could this tell us something about the structural inevitabilities of language or groups? Is this the birth of a new genre? Currently it’s a horrible mish-mash but one wonders………
V.M Daniel Regents Professor of Information