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© Copyright 2009 Digital Enterprise Research Institute. All rights reserved.
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
P© Copyright 2009 Digital Enterprise Research Institute. All rights reserved.
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
Dynamics of Wikipedia Talk pages: serving the article,
showing the communityJodi Schneider, Alexandre Passant & John Breslin
WikiMania 20102010-07-11Gdańsk, Poland
1
Researcher & Wiki userJodi.a.schneider
• WP:en - starting with Talk page edits (2006)
• AcaWiki.org administrator“Wikipedia for academic research”
Can We Make Online Discussions Better?
http://xkcd.com/386/
Overview
• Why Talk pages?
• What we know about Talk pages- Observation- Research- Belief
• My research in Talk pages
• How you can help
Overview
• Why Talk pages?
• What we know about Talk pages- Observation- Research- Belief
• My research in Talk pages
• How you can help
Fame Monster: Album? EP?
• Why is it considered an EP? With 8 tracks it might as well be an album. For example, Madonna is an eight-track album. And was a cosensus reached in order for this to have its own page? --12345abcxyz20082009 (talk) 20:53, 12 November 2009 (UTC)
• Yes consensus was reached that is how it became unprotected and EP was just the choice of one editor. I wouldn't object to it being an album since that is what the sources say. Grk1011/Stephen (talk) 20:57, 12 November 2009 (UTC)
• It is NOT an EP. First it was considered a re-release, but then Gaga herself said shes ripping this and the original "Fame" apart. Therefore, The Fame Monster will in fact be sold as a single album.
Why Talk pages?
• Juicy discussions
• Meant to improve the article
• Negotiating knowledge
Is Fame Monster an album or EP?
Needs a copyedit!
Ok, I changed this. What do you think?
Volume: LOTS of conversations
Data from Stvilia
Text
• 78x growth 2003-2005 - Viegas
• 6-7% of all edits, 2008- Kittur
Overview
• Why Talk pages?
• What we know about Talk pages- Observation- Research- Belief
• My research in Talk pages
• How you can help
Talk pages: Observations
• Talk pages are LONG.
• Can be used for consensus building.
• Conflict happens, too (productive & not).
• Comments get varying responses (+, -, none), over hours...days...months.
• Pending & completed tasks may be discussed.
• “we already decided that” - see the archives!
- Length- When is it ok to challenge previous discussions- Old discussions can be on the page
Lots of Talk page research!
• Admin candidates: “[User] interactions need to be helpful and polite.” - Burke
• Uses & Usefulness depend on article stage:formation, reorganization, maintenance... - Hansen (uses)- Kittur & Kraut (usefulness)
“more than half of all edits in the first week of an article are made to the talk page rather than to the content of the article” - Kittur & Kraut
Questions, too! Differences between editions?• Does culture have an effect on how Talk
pages are used? - Hara
• Volume varies! - Ortega
Are Talk pages overhead?
• Talk pages are overhead - similar to fighting vandals & developing policies (Suh)
• Respect the process: it’s not all overhead. “The Wikipedian community is strengthened by the difficult work of seeking consensus” (Kriplean)
Things I believe about Talk pages
• Social fabric matters: humor, responsiveness, sensitivity.
• Talk pages can surface small communities around a topic. But there isn’t always one.
• Critical mass matters.
• Their importance may depend on who we are: readers, new editors, Wikipedians.
• Too much “consensus” can be harmful:‘we decided already’, ‘see the archives’.
Conflict, scalability
Overview
• Why Talk pages?
• What we know about Talk pages- Observation- Research- Belief
• My research in Talk pages
• How you can help
My Research Questions
• How and why do Talk pages vary?
• What do Wikipedians (and readers) do on Talk pages? What tasks are they used for?*
• Can we add structure to make pages “fit” how editors and readers use them?
*volunteers needed
My Research Questions
• How and why do Talk pages vary?
• What do Wikipedians (and readers) do on Talk pages? What tasks are they used for?*
• Can we add structure to make pages “fit” how editors and readers use them?
*volunteers needed
Text
How Talk Pages Vary
Why do Talk pages vary?
• Examine 100 Talk pages using 5 categories:
• Most editors (of the article)
• Most visits (to the article)
• Controversial
• Featured Articles
• Random
Categorizing comments• Referencing a(n)...
• edit
• guideline or policy
• revert or controversy
• source
• vandalism
• internal resource
• Requesting...
• editing coordination
• help elsewhere
• information about the topic
• a peer-review
• Also: polls, images, info boxes, off-topic
inspired by Viégas
Results
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OK.9>$;.2>/1E6>./9O$ OK.9>$=17N9O$ ;.2>/.=7/9138$
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Coordination Guidelines, Reverts Info boxes.
Other factors: age, subject area, who contributes, ...
My Research Questions
• How and why do Talk pages vary?
• What do Wikipedians (and readers) do on Talk pages? What tasks are they used for?*
• Can we add structure to make pages “fit” how editors and readers use them?
*volunteers needed
Can we add structure? Sure!
Adding structure• Categorize comments (authors or crowd)
• Add semantic RDFa markup
• Pull it out with JavaScript (or SPARQL)- highlight comments about a user’s own edit
Structure could help!
• “Show all comments mentioning a source outside Wikipedia” (including non-hyperlinked ones)
• Transclude requests for information to the Wikipedia Reference Desk for a topic
• Make archives more readable/usable
What about making Talk pages “fit”
Wikipedians’ uses?
How do you want to be attributed in research papers? (username/IP address? URL to page? something else?)
{{Volunteers needed}}
• Informal interviews about Talk pages
• Evaluate the next version of my tool
• Comment & ask questions!
article stage, background (reader, new editor, Wikipedian), ongoing vs. new conversations, watchlist...
Dublin 2006 http://www.indymedia.ie/attachments/feb2006/graf_tag_dub_feb_06_09.jpg
Academic Researchers & Wikipedia
• The State of Wikimedia Scholarship 2009-2010: WikiSym and Beyond Sunday 11:30 - 12:15
• Academic Researchers in Wikimedia Communities: Ethics, Methods & Policies Sunday 12:15 - 1
</shamelessplug>
Thanks!http://jodischneider.com/
en:Jodi.a.schneideracawiki.org:Jodi.a.schneider
twitter: @[email protected]
With appreciation to my funders!- Science Foundation Ireland- WikiMedia scholarship fund
