Every day, Wikipedia features one of its articles on the front page of the site. Today the featured article is on Gregorian Chant –

Jeffrey Tucker of the New Liturgical Movement and, of course, many others have been involved in compiling the entry. He says of the experience:

To me this entry alone is enough to dispell the popular impression that Wikipedia is nothing but a pile of junk. I ventured into the Wikipedia biz a few weeks ago, and found out quickly that I was way over my head. I made a couple of tiny changes in an entry and found them reversed in a matter of minutes, and for very good reasons. I then went into a discussion on my proposed additions and found myself faced with a crowd of severe experts who knew more about the subject in question and far more about the technology. Wikipedia may look like a free-for-all, but the reality is that if the iron law of oligarchy works anywhere it is here.

Older people face incredible challenges living in this age of technological leaps and bounds. I know brilliant people for whom email alone is baffling. Wikipedia is the sort of thing that pushes people over the edge. It seems like it could never ever work. And yet it does. It takes some serious reflection on the higher theory of social organization to understand why.

What can we say about the oldest and most stable form of living music being propagated in this venue that represents the bleeding edge of technological advance? Well, words fail.

The article is a really excellent introduction to Gregorian chant, overflowing with all kinds of interesting links, including links to articles on different types of chant in other rites. Keep you busy.

The discussion page on the article is also quite educational.