The Use of Wikis for Regional Development Processes · Final considerations of the use of wikis for regional development. Institute for Systemic Management and Public Governance

The Use of Wikis for Regional Development Processes

Manfred Walser (IMP-HSG, Switzerland)Ulrich Radzieowski (engineering consultant, Austria)

RSA Conference 2013, Tampere

Institut for Systemic Managementand Public Governance

An Empirical Analysis in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland

Institute for Systemic Managementand Public Governance

Main hypothesis

It seems to be promising to use the web 2.0 applications to foster processes of regional development. Such platforms can achieve new actors and upgrade the public discourse.


Structure of the Presentation

1. Web 2.0 and Wiki - some definitions and insights2. Scientific aspects of a social and technological change3. An empirical analysis of local and regional Wikis4. Final considerations of the use of wikis for regional

development


Definition: Social Web (Web 2.0)

…is the sum of new internet- tools and applicationsusing the world wide web as a platform for datawhich are created and controlled by the users collectively


Definition: Social Network Sites (SNS)

- allow individuals to construct a (semi-)public profile within a bounded system

- users can define a list of other users to share a connection with

- users can view and traverse their list of connections and those made by other users


Technological change may cause social change

Group formingsharingcollaboratingcollective acting

new culture of participation

user generated (created) contentcompletes and partly replacesexperts / professional knowledge


Technological preconditions for social change

- the possibility to reach a global audience with nearly no costs

- the access to a huge amount of contents to be used for creating new information

- the possibility to communicate with other users sharing the same interest


Decreasing Transaction Costs (Coase Theorem)

• complexity grows faster than size of a system• also rapidly the transaction costs for

management grow- hierarchical organisation needed

new tools for large-scale coordinationwith nearly no costs -but no central definition of goals and strategies


Wiki

Definition:A wiki is a website which allows users to add, remove, edit, and change contents and to structure the existing contents from other users in a very simple way.

- integrates different expertise and viewpoints- offers the opportunity for participation- enables flexible time management- improves transparency


Added value of a local / regional Wiki(…as a hypothesis)

• to manage the amount of information and to increase the quality of information

• to motivate regional actors to participate• to support the marketing of regional

development processes


Regio - Wikis


Hypothesis 1

The added value of a local / regional wiki is to manage the amount and to increase the quality of information.


Number of thematic articles per Wiki

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000


RegioWiki Top Categories

0% 2% 4% 6% 8% 10% 12% 14% 16% 18% 20%

associations / societies

leisure / recreation

internal / about the wiki

main page / starting page

persons

transportation

social / political institutions

current issues, events...

enterprise

city / municipality

region

history

3737

5862

7682

8596

112

140

196

209


RegioWiki Detail Categories

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

religious institutionother public institution

streets (overview)markets

programmes and projectsregion (overview)

about Wikissubregion

school / institutions of educationevents / organizers

enterprise (single case)newspaper / media

association (single case)city (overview)

waterhistorical site (single case)

historical events (overview)street (sinbgle case)

gastronomic enterpriseyear /decade / century

public transport route (single case)historical sites (overview)

person (single case)urban district / quarter

city / municipality (single case)


Hypothesis 2

The added value of a local / regional wiki is to motivate regional actors to participate.


0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000 450001

3

5

7

9

11

13

15

17

19

21

23

25

27

29

31

33

35

37

39

41

43

45

47

49

51

Number of (active) users

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40


Number of adaptations per article

0

2

4

6

8

10

12


Organising Institution

0

5

10

15

20

25

association media enterprise municipality private activity


Hypothesis 3

The added value of a local / regional wiki is to support the marketing of regional development processes.


Article traffic statistics

0

2'000'000

4'000'000

6'000'000

8'000'000

10'000'000

12'000'000

Total traffic per wiki and year


Top 25 – average number of accesses per article

0

20'000

40'000

60'000

80'000

100'000

120'000


Conclusion

1. It’s an own world – worth to be observed2. Useful complement of existing tools3. Cultural change will affect regional

development processes4. Learning a new culture5. The tip of an iceberg (from a researchers

point of view)


Thank you very much for your attention

www.alexandria.unisg.ch-> Personen: Manfred_Walser

Documents

The Use of Wikis for Regional Development Processes · Final considerations of the use of wikis for regional development. Institute for Systemic Management and Public Governance