Wonkipedia

Wonk

n. a person who studies a subject or issue in an excessively assiduous and thorough manner: a policy wonk.

Earlier today, Ezra Klein posted about the lack of a place to direct people who want a comprehensive background and overview of public debates:

If I edited a major publication -- or even a medium-size one -- I would begin each major legislative battle by detailing a few of my smartest, clearest writers to create a hyperlinked, fairly comprehensive, summary of the basic legislation. That summary would be updated throughout the process, and it would be linked in every single story written on the topic. As reader questions came in, and points of confusion arose, it would be expanded, so by the end, you'd have a document that was current, comprehensive, navigable and responsive to the questions people actually had about the legislation. Telling people what just happened is undeniably important, but given that most people aren't following that closely, we in the media need to do a better job of telling people what's been happening.

Some of the commenters on that post expressed interest in a wiki run by policy wonks. I like the idea. Wikipedia is great in general but unreliable on policy issues. The page on the earned income tax credit is pretty good, though anything can be improved. But if you want to know more about EPSDT, the child's Medicaid benefit, the wiki on it won't be very helpful.

I know of at least one policy-specific wiki for which content can only be added by wonks--in fact, I'm an editor. But that's a government-sponsored project on a specific subject, not a general compendium of all policy knowledge on every area.

A true wonkipedia would have in-depth information on everything from Medicaid managed care to the merits and intellectual history of the carbon tax. Like all wikis, it would be accessible to everyone but also capable of delving as deeply into the subject as one wishes. There seems to be a disturbing popular lack of knowledge not only of general policy subjects ("keep your government hands off my Medicare!") but also of things like government procedure (yes, everyone in the U.S. will have the opportunity to offer comments on proposed regulations for health care drawn up by HHS if they so choose).

I like knowing how things work and since that's essential to understanding policy, practical political knowledge would have to be part of any complete wonkipedia. As would relevant historical knowledge on various policy issues. The question is whether such a resource would be useful. Perhaps most people don't really care about the nuts and bolts of policy or government and most of those who do care already know what they want to know and wouldn't need a wonkipedia. On the other hand, I know I would find such a resource to be extremely useful and endlessly fascinating. The media is hopelessly inept (and shallow) at covering the necessary background to the policy issue du jour. Even when the debate drags on for 9 months (after a 2-year political campaign in which the relevant issue played a prominent role) as with health care, people are both confused and poorly served by journalists who don't seem to have much more of a grasp of the relevant information then those they seek to inform.

I'd love to see this resource developed (I'd even love to help). The biggest problem is that the domain is currently populated with this.

Is anyone else intrigued by this idea or would it be just too wonky and inaccessible?