wisdom of the crowd, controversies and coordinating policies shing-chung jonathan yam department of...
TRANSCRIPT
WISDOM OF THE CROWD, WISDOM OF THE CROWD,
CONTROVERSIES AND CONTROVERSIES AND
COORDINATING POLICIESCOORDINATING POLICIES
Shing-Chung Jonathan YamShing-Chung Jonathan Yam
Department of Sociology, Department of Sociology, The Chinese University of Hong KongThe Chinese University of Hong Kong
email: chung [at] cuhk.edu.hkemail: chung [at] cuhk.edu.hk
[[Compact version]][[Compact version]]There will be only There will be only one one sentence of speech per sentence of speech per
slide!slide!
This paper addresses three This paper addresses three questionsquestions
How do cooperative knowledge generation How do cooperative knowledge generation (CKG) projects such as (CKG) projects such as Wikipedia Wikipedia institutionalize?institutionalize? This paper focuses on the period 2003-2006This paper focuses on the period 2003-2006
How does CKG projects respond to How does CKG projects respond to external controversies? external controversies?
What effect do controversies have on CKG What effect do controversies have on CKG projects?projects?
Outline of PresentationOutline of Presentation
1.1. Brief introduction of Brief introduction of WikipediaWikipedia
2.2. Coordination: Problems and Coordination: Problems and MechanismsMechanisms
3.3. Controversies and Resolving Controversies and Resolving PoliciesPolicies
4.4. ConclusionConclusion
Research on Research on WikipediaWikipedia
Why study Why study WikipediaWikipedia??
-multidisciplinary interest-multidisciplinary interest
-implications for social science and -implications for social science and philosophy (epistemology)philosophy (epistemology)
(.wav)
Research on Research on Wikipedia: Wikipedia: DisciplinesDisciplines
Wikipedia
Business
Social psychologyEducation
Politics
Media
Computer science
Information science
Folklore
Sociology
(.wav)
Research on Research on Wikipedia: Wikipedia: Models and ApproachesModels and Approaches
Wikipedia
Business model
Motivation behind altruistic behaviour
Means of teaching and learning
Social hierarchy
Propagation of information
Information technology
Preserving knowledgeRumors and discussions of Wikipedia policies
Community
Legitimacy of knowledge
Human-computer interaction
Social movement
Algorithm and software design
What is What is WikipediaWikipedia??
An on-line encyclopedia that An on-line encyclopedia that ““everyone everyone can editcan edit””
(.wav)
As Wikipedia community As Wikipedia community continues to growcontinues to grow……
editorseditors↑↑ Contributions by casual editors Contributions by casual editors ↑ ↑↑ ↑ Problems of group failure: Problems of group failure:
groupthink, dispute, prevalence of groupthink, dispute, prevalence of non-academic contributionsnon-academic contributions
Institutionalization: expanding social Institutionalization: expanding social hierarchyhierarchy Elevated editing privileges for high-Elevated editing privileges for high-
achieving editorsachieving editors Blocking troublesome usersBlocking troublesome users
Mechanisms of Mechanisms of CoordinationCoordination
VotingVoting Coalition formationCoalition formation
Crieteria for wise crowds: diversity of Crieteria for wise crowds: diversity of opinion, independence, decentralization opinion, independence, decentralization and aggregation (Surowiecki 2005)and aggregation (Surowiecki 2005)
Both bottom-up (voting) and top-down Both bottom-up (voting) and top-down (web developer(web developer’’s say) policies applys say) policies apply
Surowiecki, J. (2005). The wisdom of crowds. Anchor.
ControversiesControversies 2005 Seigenthaler incident2005 Seigenthaler incident 2006 congressional staff 2006 congressional staff
editsedits 2006 WIF page 2006 WIF page
Threatens existence of CKG Threatens existence of CKG projects (e.g. legal actions)projects (e.g. legal actions)
Web developer actively Web developer actively respond to controversiesrespond to controversies
Web developerWeb developer’’s suggestion s suggestion vs. communityvs. community
VandalismVandalism PropagandaPropaganda AdvertisingAdvertising
(non-(non-academic academic intentions)intentions)
ConclusionConclusion CKG vs. AcademiaCKG vs. Academia
CKG:CKG: people from all walks of life,people from all walks of life, a variety of intentions, a variety of intentions, varied goals not necessarily academic, varied goals not necessarily academic, end products and raw materials presented simultaneouslyend products and raw materials presented simultaneously
Academia:Academia: specialized intellectual,specialized intellectual, academic intentions,academic intentions, only end products availableonly end products available