This is the project with which Aaron became a finalist in the ArsDigita Prize contest when he was 13:<\/p>\n
Swartz\u2019s contending creation was The Info Network (www.theinfo.org), an ever-growing encyclopedia-like site filled with \u201ca vast repository of human knowledge\u201d focused on content \u2014 real information for people to use, as he calls it.<\/p>\n
The site works like this: Anyone can submit information about what they know in a totally open environment, which means they can add to the information freely.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the style of the popular GNU\/Linux operating system,\u201dSwartz added.<\/p>\n
Users are allowed to edit another\u2019s submission, but the program will always copy any original material so as not to permanently overwrite any copy.<\/p>\n
Swartz\u2019 online encyclopedia include sections on art, with subsections on rubber stamping and square dancing; a section on science, with subsections on treating burns and finding out what a palindrome is; and a chapter on life, with subsections on genealogy and religion.<\/p>\n
It was two summers ago that Swartz starting toying with the idea of building such a site.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spent my days typing away at the keyboard, bringing my ideas into action,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Swartz said the kicker was when he realized (although it may have been easy for him) that it was really hard for people to post information online. \u201cYou have to set up a server, find a place to host it, learn HTML, or learn to use a Web editing program,\u201d he said.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n