Wikipedia

The setting and the open questions We examine the organization in summer of 2006 –Jimbo Wales has been named one of the 100 most influential people on the Web. –Becomes top twenty most visited site on the web. –Mass market media coverage explodes: articles in every major news magazine & newspaper. What is it? –Myths, fact and misunderstandings. How does it work? –Process. Why is it controversial? Are there any general lessons about OS?

Basic history Founded by Jimmy “Jimbo” Wales in 2001 –Tried to start an on-line encyclopedia called Nupedia, but this failed. –Adapted a Wiki format & it exploded. –Free encyclopedia to which anyone can contribute. Not for profit. –Wikimedia Foundation started in –Donations more than cover costs. –Two paid employees in Enormous growth in five years. –1.3 million articles in English by summer of ’06. –450,000 in German

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?

Norms A shared belief in Linus’ law, “Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow.” –The more it is reviewed the better it gets. Neutral point of view. –Assert facts about opinions, but not opinions themselves. Verifiability –Against a reliable peer-reviewed source. Not original research. –Previously published by reputable source. –No novel historical interpretations.

Why it works Because it works for Wikipedians. –Committed effort. –Why do they do it? Wiki ettiquite. –Good faith. Civility. Discussion. –Dispute resolution. Consensus & monitoring. –Automated notice for contributors. –Other factors that encourage good behavior. Fostering the virtual cycle. –Personal satisfaction contributing to knowledge. –Friendship and teamwork. –Moving to new projects. –Allowing for multiple entries from many sources.

Contrast with a 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. –Will one expert author consistently expressing a view beat contributions from all corners, melded by editors, others? –Emphasis on surprises, quirks, novelties, populism. What else?

Controversy? Scope of coverage –Celebrities. –Notable historical and fictional figures. –Geek priorities. Factual correctness. –Unchecked facts in historical biographies. –What is truth when it is not code? A neutral point of view for everything? –Religious figures. –Controversial historical figures. –Politicians. Pretension, ambition, hyperbole –Leading a revolution –What are the limits? What else?

Growing in the future Open versus clean. –Inviting new entry. Training new contributors in wiki ettiquite –Vanity entries. Destructive vandals. Publicity. –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

Broad lessons Wikipedia encountered a new range of issues as the largest Wiki ever –Open source projects had never before left the coder/programmer community at this scale. –Shows that open source can move to text, but that introduces a whole new range of issues. The future –Many attempts to found profit-oriented wikis. Will communities grow around a site if the site makes money from their contributions? –Many attempts to port Wikis to companies. Where participation is mediated. Internal knowledge management.