1. WIKIBOOKS AND WIKIBOOKIANS: LOOSELY-COUPLED COMMUNITY OR THE FUTURE OF THE TEXTBOOK INDUSTRY? Ed-Media 2009, Honolulu, HI Meng-Fen Grace Lin University of Hawaii at Manoa, gracelin@hawaii.edu Suthiporn Sajjapanroj Indiana University, ssajjapa@indiana.edu Curt Bonk Indiana University, cjbonk@indiana.edu

2. Technologies drastically changing the Textbook/Publishing Industry

3. Pocket School Project, Stanford University (Mexico in 2008; Rwanda in January 2009)

4. Enter FlatWorld Knowledge (8m of VC in March 2009)

5. Digital textbooks: Hits California (May-June 2009)

6. E-book Readers (May 2008)

7. Apple iPhone 3G S Announced (June 2009)

8. Scribd Signs Book Deal (June, 2009)

9. Research on Wikis and Wikibooks

10. Wikimedia Foundation (includes Wikipedia)

11. Wikibooks Main Page http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page

12. Wikibooks Website

13. Sample Wikibook (cooking)

14. Sample Wikibook (The Web 2.0)

15. Wikijunior (for kids birth to age 12)

16. Purpose of Study  A follow-up survey study to verify:  Male domination?  Unsatisfied with Wikibooks environment?  Multiple roles?  A follow-up survey study to further understand:  Wikibookians’ identity  Inner working of the community  Experience lived as a Wikibookians

17. Methods Used  Survey  46 items and 3 open-ended questions  Demographics  Identity  Experience  Community  Participants:  Actual participated in Wikibooks  Through revision history  Email user function on site  1900 emails sent; 167 valid responses

18. Findings - Age Age Previous study (80 participants) Current study (167 participants) Under 1819%8% 18-2539%35% 26-3425%20% 35-5012%25% Over 505%13%

19. Findings - Gender Previous study (80 participants)Current study (167 participants)

20. Findings – Education Degrees Previous study (80 participants) Current study (167 participants) Lower than high school 10%5% High school 29%23% Two-year college 11%10% Four-year college 23%26% Master’s or graduate level degree 16%21% Doctoral or post graduate degree 11%16%

21. Findings - Location

22. Findings - Language

24.  Male domination  Young but more evenly distributed  All education background  North America and Europe  English-speaking Discussion - demographic

25. Findings - Experience  How would you label yourself in terms of Wikibooks?

26. Findings - Experience  How long have you been contributing to or editing in Wikibooks?

27. Findings - Experience  How often are your Wikibooks edited, expanded, or modified

28. Findings - Experience  The level of your contribution/involvement How long have you been contributing to or editing in Wikibooks? 1=low10=high Our study average = 5

29.  Not experts  Not long  Not frequent  Not highly involved Discussion - experience

30. Findings - Identity  The main goal of Wikibooks is to create virtual learning resources for education

31. Findings - Identity  What is/are reason(s) that you have coordinated or completed one or more Wikibooks

32. Findings - Identity  To what degree do you trust the information provided in most Wikibooks 1=low10=high Our study average = 7

33. Findings - Identity  What skills and competencies have you developed since becoming a member of Wikibooks

34. Skills and Competencies Gained: Quote  A: Editing skills (which is much different from writing) since mostly I am involved with cleaning up or relocating existing work to improve the readability and structure of the book. Wikibooks are never completed…..They constantly change, evolve, expand, condense, and adapt as writers and editors gain and lose interest.

35. Findings - Identity  A Wikibook written by a large group of people is better than a Wikibook written by a small group of people

36. Findings - Identity  The number of collaborators you had

37. Findings - Identity  How will you use the most recently completed or current Wikibook project (check all that apply)

38.  High trust in content  Few or no collaborator  Variety of skills  Altruism Discussion- Identity

39. Findings - Community  Do you feel that you are part of the Wikibooks community

40. Findings - Community  Is it necessary to provide apprenticeship or mentoring for new people in the Wikibook environment

41. Findings - Community  Are there people who have helped you with your Wikibook projects

42. Findings - Community  What has helped your level of comfort

43. Findings - Community  How long does it take to learn how to use Wikibooks

44. Findings - Community  Do you help or apprentice others in their Wikibook efforts

45. Findings - Community  How is someone typically apprenticed into the Wikibooks environment

46. Findings - Community  The process of finding compromise and agreement is more important than the product of the Wikibook

47. Findings - Community  What is your view of Wikibooks

48. Findings - Community  “I simply don't contribute a whole lot; I prefer simply to learn, and Wikibooks does an excellent job at that”

49. View of Wikibooks: Quote  I started out contributing to the Electronics wikibook and the Robotics book, occasionally. I watched it turn into a complete mess, as a single person turned a book about Electronics into a grand unified book about Life, the Universe, and Everything…..There are just too few people on Wikibooks to fight off such disruptions, so it just goes on uncontrolled.

50.  Loose-coupled community  Common practice and shared goals  Focus on sharing and learning  Friendship and socializing not important Discussion - Community

51. Points to ponder  How can Wikibooks become more of a community with apprenticeship? Should it?  Will people assume a high level status in society as a wikibookian just as writers and novelists are today?  What if schools in California and Texas and other states start adopting Wikibooks for K-12 education?  How would wiki-curriculum created by children work?

52. Future research  Asynchronous apprenticeship  In-depth ethnographical understanding of the lived experience of a Wikibookian  Communicate with Wikimedia foundation; suggest improvements of tools; keep monitoring changes at site

53. Future research  User aspects: talk to students and instructors who have created or used Wikibooks  Explore Wikibooks junior  Research K-12 classroom development and use of Wikibooks  Create government initiatives for free and open books

54. Questions and Comments…