Free Web Based Encyclopedia and Community

ByCarltonL.Benne.JrMdm2010IEBusinessSchool

What does the word “Wikipedia”

Mean?

Its name is a Portmanteau, a blend of two or more words.

NO,itdoesn’tmean

WIKI

•  TechnologyforcreaEngcollaboraEvewebsiteswhichemergedfromtheHawaiianwordwiki,meaning"quick."

WIKI ENCYLOPEDIA

“QUICK“ENCYLOPEDIA

WIKIPEDIAWeb‐basedandCollaboraEveMulElingualEncyclopedia

WIKIPEDIA

•  WikipediaisnotlikeyourtradiEonalEncyclopediaBritannica.Itisaperfectexampleofthepowerofweb2.0andopensourceservices.Thisfreeonlineencyclopediaisownedbytheonlinecommunity.Ithas13millionarEcles(2.9millionintheEnglishWikipedia)whichhaveallbeenwri.enandeditedcollaboraEvelybyvolunteersaroundtheworld.

–  ThereisnoformalreviewprocessofitsarEcles.

–  ArEclesarenotownedbyitscreator,editororanyrecognizedauthority.

–  AnyonewhohasaccesstotheWikipediawebsitecaneditarEcles.

–  FreeregistraEonallowsuserstoaddarEcles(EnglishediEononly).

QuickFacts

The Wikipedia Community

Germany

English France Italy Russia

Poland

Spain

Netherlands

Portugal Japan

DiverseandKnowledgeable!Wikipedians‐Philosophers,historybuffs,scienEsts,arEsts,religiouspeople,generalists,specialists,etcfromallovertheworld.

CommuniEeswithinagiantcommunity?O`eninvolvesanoverlapofparEcipaEonofitsmembersintootherlanguagewikipedias.

Unique!Uniquemissioncomprisesofopencontentwhichisfreeandavailabletoeveryone.

PersonalandFragileWikipedia’sopennessallowsforselfexpressionwhichcouldbebiasaswikipedianscontributethroughtheirinterestsandgoals.Communitydependsongoodwikipedians.Withoutthemthecommunitywillloseitsappeal.

Wiki Community’s General Role •  Organizeandeditindividualpages

•  StructurenavigaEonbetweenpages

•  Resolveconflictbetweenmembers•  Re‐engineeritself–creaEngrulesandpa.ernsofbehavior

A Wikipedian’s General Role

Writetext/arEclesandcontributeimagesandothermedia

ParEcipateintheCommunity‐ediEngarEcles,voEng,etc

Other

Typical Life Cycle of a Wiki Member

RegisteredContributor

Non‐registeredContributor

Lurker

Passer‐by(userofwikiservices)

Wikipedians(Maslow’sMoEvators)

RegisteredContributors:createarEcles,edit,andsubmitmediacontent

Non‐registeredContributors:editandsubmitmediacontent

Motivation

Mo>va>onWikipedia’sopensourcesystemcreatesaacommunitywherememberscanhaveasenseofbelonging,chancetoboosttheirego‐statusorhaveselfactualizaEonbycontribuEngarEcles,ediEonandapprovalofothercontentwheretheyseefit.

MembersaremoEvatedtocontributetothelargestencyclopediaoftheworld,givingthemexposure,recogniEon,prideandasenseofaccomplishmentallforfree.

Awikipedian’stypicallifecycleisbasedonhisorhermoEvaEontoparEcipate.AslongasamemberstaysmoEvatedheorshewillconEnuetobeapartoftheWikipediacommunity.However,oncethemoEvaEoniscutoff,thewikipedianwillceasetobeamember.TheWikipediaViciousCycleisabigcontributorofdestroyingmoEvaEon.

Barriers"Wikipedia Vicious Cycle

WikipediansarequietlyandacEvelyparEcipaEng

Vandals

comebyandgenerallyreducethequalityofarEclesjustfor

fun

ControversialWikipediansaremistakenasVandals

SYSOPS(Administrators)trackandIPbanvandalsbutignorethe

Trolls

TheTrollsconsidertheSYSOPSthe“enemy”andtryeverythingtoantagonizeandburnout

SYSOPScausingWikipedianstoleaveoutofdisgust.

CastleJumpersliketobuildupgreatcontentbuthave

tendenciestodeletecontentratherthanallowotherstoenjoy

How the Virtual Circle is supposed to Work!

ThecontributorsarethebackboneandthemeatoftheWikipediacommunity.Justlikeapuzzle,everypieceisimportantaseverycontributor(registeredornot)isimportant.

Withoutthecontributorstherewouldbenocommunity.Eachofthem(newcomers,nonandregisteredcontributors,Sr.registeredcontributors)fromeverypartoftheglobewithvariouslanguagebackgroundisconnectedthroughonecommongoal:

Tocreate,editandprovidevaluableMul3languagecontentthroughacollabora3veeffortfreetothepublic.

Caretocontributetothepuzzle?

Thank You

References

h.p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_community#MoEvaEons_and_barriers_to_contribuEng_to_virtual_communiEes

h.p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia

h.p://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Vicious_Cycle

h.p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedians