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Wikipedia in the spotlight

Wikipedia in the spotlight. Why study Wikipedia?. As a first step into understanding communities that depend on user contributions… All have novel intellectual property licensing. Exciting, but easy to be confused.

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Wikipedia in the spotlight

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  1. Wikipedia in the spotlight

  2. Why study Wikipedia? • As a first step into understanding communities that depend on user contributions… • All have novel intellectual property licensing. • Exciting, but easy to be confused. • Many open source project cannot be appreciated without examining a complex code base. • In contrast, Wikipedia is accessible. Thus, it offers first step into developing an understanding…

  3. Wikipedia in 2009

  4. We examine the organization in summer of 2009 • Sue Gardner, director: “It is time for us to grow up a little bit.” • Top ten web site. • Mass market media coverage. • What needs to grow up, if anything? • Game plan: How does it work? • Myths, fact and misunderstandings. • What issues do they need to consider?

  5. Myths, facts and misunderstandings

  6. History • Founded by Jimmy “Jimbo” Wales in 2001. • What happened to Nupedia? • What happened after adapting Wiki format? • Not for profit Wikimedia Foundation started in 2003. • How many paid employees in 2006? • Started scaling up in 2007. How? • Location. Administration. Fund raising. • What else?

  7. What is a Wiki? • What does Wiki mean? • Why for this use? • How the software works. • Restrictions on participation. • Editing. • History pages. • Recent changes. • Search functions. • What/who is a Wikipedian?

  8. Norms for Wikipedia startwith Linus’ Law • What Linus Torvald said: • “Given a large enough beta-test and code-developer base, almost every problem will be characterized quickly and the fix obvious to someone.” • Eric Raymond coined a popular rendition… • “Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow.” • Ever since… • Competing interpretations about what this aphorism means….

  9. A sample of Eric Raymond • Perhaps this just goes to show … • Every social movement needs someone pithy to find a popular phrase that resonates with the broader goals of the movement…

  10. Two interpretations of Linus’ law… ideas or investment? • Accumulating ideas (about building s/w): • What is the best way to accumulate ideas about how to create a new piece of software? • Sampling ideas from a wide base. “Reduce the role of the single software expert.” Spread it around. • Accumulating investment (which does not deteriorate due to wear & tear): • What is the best way to accumulate the investments in pieces of code that make up a new piece of software? • Gathering investments from a wide base. “Reduce the role of command from above.” Make room for variety of ideas.

  11. Norms among Wikipedians • Shared norms: • A shared belief in Linus’ law. • Neutral point of view. NPOV. • Verifiability. • Not original research. • How does it work?

  12. Why does this work? • How to encourage good behavior? • Wikipedians committed effort. • Wiki etiquette. • Good faith. Civility. Discussion. Dispute resolution. • Consensus & monitoring. • Automated notice for contributors. • Encouraging use of citations. • What else? • Why is this needed?

  13. Virtuous cycle • Virtuous cycle is self-reinforcing… • More users  more eyes  more extensions  more adoption and users  more extensions…. • A form of network effect: Whole grows into greater than sum of any contribution… • Fostering the virtuous cycle. • Personal satisfaction. Friendship and teamwork, Moving to new projects. • What else? • Self-reinforcing with Google….

  14. Summary: Jimbo Wales’ key insight • Make site accommodate both insiders & tourists and the virtuous cycle keeps growing. • Need one type of code for those who do a lot. Make their roles easier to perform. Need different type of code for a large group who makes occasional contribution. • Might get best of both worlds? Why? • Inherently difficult to get right. • A club involving personalities from early/late majority & early adopter/innovator. They must get along. What else? • Astonishing success raised question: can this combination be imitated?

  15. What issues do they need to consider?

  16. Should they worry about contrasts with traditional encyclopedia? • Sources for authoritative text. • “Self-selected” editors & contributors instead of experts. • Guarding against junk science. • Topic selection. • Who assigns responsibility? Consensus as arbiter? • Framing passages. • Editors enforce consistency. Forming the index for the whole. • Tone and presentation. • One expert author v. contributions from all corners. • Emphasis on surprises, quirks, novelties, populism. • What else?

  17. Which controversies should they worry about? • Scope of coverage. Does it matter? • Celebrities. Historical and fictional figures. Geek priorities. • Factual correctness. • Unchecked facts in historical biographies. • What is truthiness when code is not tested? • Who is responsible/accountable for error/defamation? • Use in court proceedings? • A neutral point of view for everything? • Religious figures. Controversial people. Politicians. • Depicting horrific historical events. • Editorial discretion. • Personal vindictiveness by editors. • What are the limits? • What else?

  18. Wikipedia and Steven Colbert

  19. Should they alter the site in order to nurture growth? • Open versus clean. • Inviting new entry. Training new contributors in wiki ettiquite • Vanity entries. Destructive vandals. • When it is not done it can be wrong. Who is responsible? • When authorities get interested (e.g., Chinese censorship, Argentine dirty war, Congressional staff). • How far to extend the wiki concept? • Over 100 languages. • Wikiquotes, wiktionary, wikibooks, wikispecies, etc. • Supporting the broad community • Conferences. On line governance

  20. Continuing expansion • Expansion of range of Wikipedia • Wapedia for mobile devices, • Wikiquotes… • Wikispecies…. • Placeopedia for mashups for location information for articles, • Wikirage (what’s hot), • Wikiscanner (sniffing out self-interested anonymous edits) • Wikipedia selection for schools (SOS charity)… • What else? • Limits?

  21. What needs to grow up? • Professional staff. • Funding. Fund raising. • Monitoring. • Governance. • Transparency. • What else?

  22. Managerial cool down

  23. Broad lessons? • Somebody w/a clear focus… • Jimbo Wales at Wikipedia… • Compelling motive for repeat & occasional participation. • Motives often not commercial. • Blending programmer culture, on-line web culture. • Lightning in a bottle. What could be captured and replicated? • In a commercial context?

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