WISDOM OF THE CROWD, CONTROVERSIES AND COORDINATING POLICIES Shing-Chung Jonathan Yam Department of Sociology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong chung [at] cuhk.edu.hk [[Compact version]] There will be only one sentence of speech per slide!
This paper addresses three questions How do cooperative knowledge generation (CKG) projects such as Wikipedia institutionalize? How do cooperative knowledge generation (CKG) projects such as Wikipedia institutionalize? This paper focuses on the period This paper focuses on the period How does CKG projects respond to external controversies? How does CKG projects respond to external controversies? What effect do controversies have on CKG projects? What effect do controversies have on CKG projects?
Outline of Presentation 1. Brief introduction of Wikipedia 2. Coordination: Problems and Mechanisms 3. Controversies and Resolving Policies 4. Conclusion
Research on Wikipedia Why study Wikipedia? Why study Wikipedia? -multidisciplinary interest -implications for social science and philosophy (epistemology) -implications for social science and philosophy (epistemology)
Research on Wikipedia: Disciplines Wikipedia Business Social psychology Education Politics Media Computer science Information science Folklore Sociology
Research on Wikipedia: Models and Approaches Wikipedia Business model Motivation behind altruistic behaviour Means of teaching and learning Social hierarchy Propagation of information Information technology Preserving knowledge Rumors and discussions of Wikipedia policies Community Legitimacy of knowledge Human-computer interaction Social movement Algorithm and software design
What is Wikipedia? An on-line encyclopedia that “ everyone can edit ” An on-line encyclopedia that “ everyone can edit ”
As Wikipedia community continues to grow … editors↑ editors↑ Contributions by casual editors ↑ ↑ Contributions by casual editors ↑ ↑ Problems of group failure: groupthink, dispute, prevalence of non-academic contributions Problems of group failure: groupthink, dispute, prevalence of non-academic contributions Institutionalization: expanding social hierarchy Institutionalization: expanding social hierarchy Elevated editing privileges for high-achieving editors Elevated editing privileges for high-achieving editors Blocking troublesome users Blocking troublesome users
Mechanisms of Coordination Voting Voting Coalition formation Coalition formation Crieteria for wise crowds: diversity of opinion, independence, decentralization and aggregation (Surowiecki 2005) Crieteria for wise crowds: diversity of opinion, independence, decentralization and aggregation (Surowiecki 2005) Both bottom-up (voting) and top-down (web developer ’ s say) policies apply Both bottom-up (voting) and top-down (web developer ’ s say) policies apply Surowiecki, J. (2005). The wisdom of crowds. Anchor.
Controversies 2005 Seigenthaler incident 2005 Seigenthaler incident 2006 congressional staff edits 2006 congressional staff edits 2006 WIF page 2006 WIF page Threatens existence of CKG projects (e.g. legal actions) Threatens existence of CKG projects (e.g. legal actions) Web developer actively respond to controversies Web developer actively respond to controversies Web developer ’ s suggestion vs. community Web developer ’ s suggestion vs. community Vandalism Vandalism Propaganda Propaganda Advertising (non-academic intentions) Advertising (non-academic intentions)
Conclusion CKG vs. Academia CKG vs. Academia CKG: CKG: people from all walks of life, people from all walks of life, a variety of intentions, a variety of intentions, varied goals not necessarily academic, varied goals not necessarily academic, end products and raw materials presented simultaneously end products and raw materials presented simultaneously Academia: Academia: specialized intellectual, specialized intellectual, academic intentions, academic intentions, only end products available only end products available