Wikipedia’s Community Social Deep Dive Cathy Ma Barcamp NorthEast 2008

Today’s Agenda Introduction History and Overview Communications in WP Trust in Wikipedia – Social Capital

Introduction

History and Overview

Communications in WP

Trust in Wikipedia – Social Capital

Cathy & Wikipedia MPhil in (WP) Sociology Organisational structure What makes this project tick? Overview Observation & Research results Main Focus: Trust

MPhil in (WP) Sociology

Organisational structure

What makes this project tick?

Overview

Observation & Research results

Main Focus: Trust

Wikipedia History and Overview

2001

2004

2007

Quick Overview of Wikipedia Approximately 10 million articles in 253 languages By June 2006* 10+ contributors: 17167 10+ En contributors: 9552 (55%) *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Statistics

Approximately

10 million articles

in 253 languages

By June 2006*

10+ contributors: 17167

10+ En contributors: 9552 (55%)

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Statistics

Wikipedia Open Project – platform for collaboration ‘ The Sum of all Human Knowledge’ Low(er) entry barrier Three Key Principles Neutral Point of View Assume Good Faith Be Bold

Open Project – platform for collaboration

‘ The Sum of all Human Knowledge’

Low(er) entry barrier

Three Key Principles

Neutral Point of View

Assume Good Faith

Be Bold

History Flow Visualization Visualizing edit patterns Different Colours noting contribution patterns Across time

Visualizing edit patterns

Different Colours noting contribution patterns

Across time

70 Sample Pages Mass Deletion (all content) Revert in 2.8 minutes Mass Delection with Obscene Words Revert in 1.7 minutes

Mass Deletion (all content)

Revert in 2.8 minutes

Mass Delection with Obscene Words

Revert in 1.7 minutes

WP – really that great? [WP is] like a sausage: you might like the taste of it, but you don't necessarily want to see how it's made. -Jimmy Wales

WP’s foundations Charismatic leaderships Strong Ideologies Extension of FLOSS* Philosophy into Knowledge Sharing * Free Libre Open Source Software

Charismatic leaderships

Strong Ideologies

Extension of FLOSS* Philosophy into Knowledge Sharing

* Free Libre Open Source Software

Communication in WP

Channels of Communication WP structure overview Communication Channels overview Discussion pages Community Portal Ad hoc Committees Mailing list, IRCs, Chats, Forums

WP structure overview

Communication Channels overview

Discussion pages

Community Portal

Ad hoc Committees

Mailing list, IRCs, Chats, Forums

The Sociology of Wikipedia WP’s Social Capital

What is Trust? Believability/Credibility Perceived Quality Trustworthiness Expertise Reliability What are the benefits of Trust?

Believability/Credibility

Perceived Quality

Trustworthiness

Expertise

Reliability

What are the benefits of Trust?

Trust “The expectation that arises within a community of regular, honest, and cooperative behavior, based on commonly shared norms, on the part of other members of that community” Francis Fukuyama

“The expectation that arises within a community of regular, honest, and cooperative behavior, based on commonly shared norms, on the part of other members of that community”

Francis Fukuyama

‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.’ Three Components Network Cluster of Norms Sanctions (rewards & punishments) Social Capital

‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.’

Three Components

Network

Cluster of Norms

Sanctions (rewards & punishments)

Networks on Wikipedia General Surfers Contributors Causal Contributors Recurrent Contributors Sysops (administrators) – 1,293 Stewards – 30

General Surfers

Contributors

Causal Contributors

Recurrent Contributors

Sysops (administrators) – 1,293

Stewards – 30

Norms on Wikipedia 1. Be Bold 2. Assume Good Faith 3. Neutral Point of View

1. Be Bold

2. Assume Good Faith

3. Neutral Point of View

Sanctions Rewards - Social Reinforcement – Barnstars Compliments nominations Punishments removed edits get barked at (!) desysoped

Rewards - Social Reinforcement –

Barnstars

Compliments

nominations

Punishments

removed edits

get barked at (!)

desysoped

Why Social Capital? Double A’s Access to resources: Information: input and output Human Capital: skills, knowledge, creativity Ability to Mobilise Resources

Double A’s

Access to resources:

Information: input and output

Human Capital: skills, knowledge, creativity

Ability to Mobilise Resources

Networks Coleman’s idea on Closure A E C B D A B C D E Linear Network norms Open Network norms

Coleman’s idea on Closure

Open Network Max. Contact Points Information Flow Facilitates n orms formation A B C D E Open Network

Max. Contact Points

Information Flow

Facilitates n orms formation

Ideal Social Network on WP Anonymous Wikipedians Less Active Wikipedians V. Active Wikipedians Members with multiple memberships Link community nodes Facilitates information flow Fosters networks among groups

Members with multiple memberships

Link community nodes

Facilitates information flow

Fosters networks among groups

Why social capital? - Lubricates information flow - Enhances decision-making process - Reduces transaction & management cost - Better identifies human talents/creativity

- Lubricates information flow

- Enhances decision-making process

- Reduces transaction & management cost

- Better identifies human talents/creativity

Scaling Social Capital - Favorable to community development - Information Flow - Decision-Making - Potential of Backlashing

- Favorable to community development

- Information Flow

- Decision-Making

- Potential of Backlashing

Bridging & Bonding Social Capital Bridging Capital: Sociological DW4 Bonding Capital: Sociological Superglue

Bridging Capital: Sociological DW4

Bonding Capital: Sociological Superglue

Bridging Social Capital - New babes support - Deliberations and Discussions - Participation in multiple projects - WIkipedia Embassy - International Mailing lists

- New babes support

- Deliberations and Discussions

- Participation in multiple projects

- WIkipedia Embassy

- International Mailing lists

Bridging Social Capital - Social DW40 - Members linking communities by having multiple memberships - Induced efficient information diffusion - Foster linkage to external assets (think Wikimania and OSI)

- Members linking communities by having multiple memberships

- Induced efficient information diffusion

- Foster linkage to external assets (think Wikimania and OSI)

Bonding Social Capital Social Superglue Strong in-group loyalty Narrow Radius of trust May Breed out-group antagonism

Social Superglue

Strong in-group loyalty

Narrow Radius of trust

May Breed out-group antagonism

Case Study 1: Deletionist vs Inclusionist Deletionist Inclusionist Outplace Inclusionism Delete the Junks Outplace Deletionism Find & fix all stubs 134 177 & 22 ‘honorary members’

Illustration - GNAA - Gay Nigger Association of America* - Voted for Deletion for dozens of times - Scams and trollers - controversial among the WPns - Entry on Wikipedia? - Exhausting resources and causes conflicts *Article no longer exists

- Gay Nigger Association of America*

- Voted for Deletion for dozens of times

- Scams and trollers - controversial among the WPns

- Entry on Wikipedia?

- Exhausting resources and causes conflicts

*Article no longer exists

Problems - Depletes Social Capital (trust, and mobilization or resources) - Over-rationalization - Misuse of time and efforts

- Depletes Social Capital (trust, and mobilization or resources)

- Over-rationalization

- Misuse of time and efforts

Case 2: Countering Systemic Bias - Example of Bridging Social Capital - how representative is Wikipedia? - Profiling Wikipedians: “ male, technically-inclined, formally educated, speak English, from industrialized Nations”

- Example of Bridging Social Capital

- how representative is Wikipedia?

- Profiling Wikipedians:

“ male, technically-inclined, formally educated, speak English, from industrialized Nations”

Countering Systemic Bias - Participatory ‘campaign’ to raise awareness on representativeness - 171 members - Active uses of templates and open tasks

- Participatory ‘campaign’ to raise awareness on representativeness

- 171 members

- Active uses of templates and open tasks

WP’s Languages - Further countering systemic biases - by developing free information repositories - Case in Point: Kurdish Wikipedia

- Further countering systemic biases

- by developing free information repositories

- Case in Point: Kurdish Wikipedia

Kurdish Wikipedia Indo-Iranian Language 15 millions of Kurds No formal education in Kurdish Under-representation by Media in Turkey (e.g. Broadcasting - limited to 40 minutes a day)

Indo-Iranian Language

15 millions of Kurds

No formal education in Kurdish

Under-representation by Media in Turkey (e.g. Broadcasting - limited to 40 minutes a day)

Bridging SC on Ku WP - Founded since 2004 - About 3,000 articles* - Turks’ and Iranians’ stemmed from the Opensource Community - Spillover effects: members from Turk GNOME supporting Kurdish Linux *in 2006, in 08 it reaches over 11k

- Founded since 2004

- About 3,000 articles*

- Turks’ and Iranians’ stemmed from the Opensource Community

- Spillover effects: members from Turk GNOME supporting Kurdish Linux

*in 2006, in 08 it reaches over 11k

Significance - Attempts that link community nodes - Increases transparency hence information flow - fosters linkage to external access into the Wikipedia community

- Attempts that link community nodes

- Increases transparency hence information flow

- fosters linkage to external access into the Wikipedia community

Functional aspects of SC Transparency - Comprehensibility of rules, norms and values of an institution - Actions become transparent, understandable, and predictable - Increased scope and range of social interaction

Transparency

- Comprehensibility of rules, norms and values

of an institution

- Actions become transparent, understandable, and predictable

- Increased scope and range of social interaction

Rationalization - social capital embodied in formally codified rules, norms and values - explicit rules versus implicit/shared understanding - NPOV: stating what to delete versus learning the procedural aspects Functional Aspects of Social Capital

Rationalization

- social capital embodied in formally codified rules, norms and values

- explicit rules versus implicit/shared understanding

- NPOV: stating what to delete versus learning the procedural aspects

Rationalization Benefits Improved information transmitting capacity Greater organizational flexibility Encourage creativity and spontaneous actions

Benefits

Improved information transmitting capacity

Greater organizational flexibility

Encourage creativity and spontaneous actions

Questions contact me: [email_address] http://cathyma.com

contact me:

[email_address]

http://cathyma.com