![(spontaneous) division of labor‘Chaos’ - Jimmy WalesPredicable balance2 main types of WikipediansOne off editorsDedicated Wikipedians – Community Portal‘The majority of contributors [to Wikipedia] edit only one article, once, while the majority of the effort comes from a much smaller and more active group.’Shirky, p.121](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/arin6903presentation-110526012001-phpapp01/85/Clay-Shirky-on-Wikis-UNI-presentation-12-320.jpg)
Clay Shirky on Wikis UNI presentation
- 1. Personal Motivation Meets Collaborative ProductionClay Shirky – Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations
- 2. On the author & the bookClay Shirky is a key thinker on the social and economic effects of the Internet. Key quote ‘the internet is run on love’Referred to as ‘New media’s favorite cheerleader’Most recent publication: Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a connected age (2010) Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations (2008)Overview: Here Comes Everybody- gives a thorough analysis of how people collaborate when given the tools to work together – free from traditional organisational structures
- 3. Defining a few key termsWiki: is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. (Wikipedia: Wiki retrieved 13.05.2011)In general – a wiki is a website with user generated content The word Wiki is the Hawaiian word for ‘fast’. Wikipedia: is a free, webbased, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. (Wikipedia: About retrieved 13.05.2011) Mass collaboration: is a form of collective action that occurs when large numbers of people work independently on a single project, often modular in its nature (Wikipedia : Mass Collabroation retrieved 13.05.2011)
- 4. SummaryA brief history of WikipediaOn WikipediaOn Wikipedia ContentDivision of LaborMotivation for contributionOn vandalism and qualityOn wiki love and criticismsDiscussion questions and activity* Note – anything in grey is data that has been updated since Shirky wrote this book or it is information from external sources
- 5. A brief history of WikipediaThe failure of NupediaExclusive to experts Article creation process – 7 steps to completionLess than 20 articles in 9 monthsWard Cunningham – creator of the first wikiThe birth of Wikipedia 2001 – 2003WikiMediaFoundation
- 6. On Wikipedia – key (up-to-date) facts and figuresNumber of content pages 3,640,423All pages (including talk pages, redirects etc) 23,985,572Number of page edits since Wikipedia was set up 462,875,551Number of registered users: 14,584,277 Ranks the worlds 7th most popular websiteWikipedia is available in 280 languagesTaken from Wikipedia statistics 13.05.2011
- 7. An image estimating the size of a printed version of Wikipedia as of August 2010. (using volumes of Encyclopædia Britannica)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Size_of_English_Wikipedia_in_August_2010_(L).svg
- 8. On Wikipedia ContentMore than just a free user-generated encyclopedia – it is aslo a news source (Shirky gives example of London Bombings pg. 116-116)Example: Wikipedia article on Death of Osama bin LadenTotal revisions 3811Average time between edits 0.44 days252 ‘watchers’Number of edits made by the top 10% of active users 2442 (68%)
- 11. (spontaneous) division of laborHow does Wikipedia work?Creating new articlesEditing existing articles‘A Wikipedia article is a process, not a product, and as a result, it is never finished’ Shirky pg. 119
- 12. (spontaneous) division of labor‘Chaos’ - Jimmy WalesPredicable balance2 main types of WikipediansOne off editorsDedicated Wikipedians – Community Portal‘The majority of contributors [to Wikipedia] edit only one article, once, while the majority of the effort comes from a much smaller and more active group.’Shirky, p.121
- 13. What motivates Wikipedians?Shirky 3 main motivationsDoing something with what you knowGet recognisedBe part of something for the greater goodHow does Wikipedia foster this?Name of editor (signed in) displayed on page historyThe community spirit – Wikipedians and Wikipedia eventsBarnstars
- 14. On vandalism & qualityHow does Wikipedia survive vandalism?Publish then filter – key attribute to Wiki success but also dangerous‘Openness, division of labor & multiple motivations…’ (Shirky pg. 135)A vandal can spend hours damaging an article and it takes one simple ‘revert’ to undo the vandal's damageA wiki can only survive vandalism if people care about itReal-time peer review
- 15. Quality ‘The type of people who are drawn to writing an encyclopedia for fun are generally pretty smart’ Jimmy Wales, TED talk, 2005Locked articlesNeutrality ‘It is a product not of collectivism but of unending argumentation’ Shirky pg. 139
- 16. On wiki-love & criticisms Shirky – Ise Shrine is rebuild every few decades – it exists as an act of love – Wikipedia exists for the same reasons.A wiki can only survive if it is loved by the community who create and maintain it.Criticisms of ShirkyCollaboration and the digital divideWikinomics – the wiki model can be applied to businessesThe wiki platform – a place where everyone is equal (Wikiprogress – bridging the gap between policy makers and citizens)
- 17. Conclusions A wiki is a hybrid of tool and community. Shirky Pg 136Wikinomics is a new force or movement that is bringing people together on the net to create a giant brain. Anthony Williams, WikinomicsJimmy Wales on Wikipedia – imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given access to the sum of all knowledge – that’s what we’re doing. TED Talk, 2005
- 18. Discussion question & ActivityWhat is the relationship between openness and mass collaboration?Do you agree with Shirky that the wiki model of organisation can not be applied to business or do you agree with Williams that ‘Wikinomics’ is the new way forward? Update the Wikipedia article on Clay Shirky with your knowledge from this weeks reading.