Analysis of Wikipedia Editing (socio-technological infrastructure)

16
“Edit This Page” The Socio-technological Infrastructure of a Wikipedia Article Shaun Slattery DePaul University [email protected] ACM SIGDOC October 7, 2009 Bloomington, IN

description

Presentation at the 27th Annual International Conference on Design of Communication. By Shaun Slattery, Ph.D. Networked environments, such as wikis, are commonly used to support work, including the collaborative authoring of information and “fact-building.” In networked environments, the activity of fact-building is mediated not only by the technological features of the interface, but also by the social conventions of the community it supports. This paper examines the social and technological features of a Wikipedia article in order to understand how these features help mediate the activity of factbuilding and highlights the need for communication designers to consider the goals and needs of the communities for which they design.

Transcript of Analysis of Wikipedia Editing (socio-technological infrastructure)

Page 1: Analysis of Wikipedia Editing (socio-technological infrastructure)

“Edit This Page”The Socio-technological Infrastructure of a Wikipedia ArticleShaun SlatteryDePaul [email protected]

ACM SIGDOCOctober 7, 2009Bloomington, IN

Page 2: Analysis of Wikipedia Editing (socio-technological infrastructure)

Networked fact-building

increasing use of, need for networked environments for collaborative authorship

corporate teamwork, fan sites, scientific research

challenges of designing such environments…

socio-technological factors to consider

Page 3: Analysis of Wikipedia Editing (socio-technological infrastructure)

Activity system of a W’pedia article

mediating artifacts: wiki environment, sources

object: clean coal technologies article

outcome:

Wikipedia project

subject: “clean coal technologies” article authors

division of labor: editors, administrators, stewards

community: Wikipedia authors

rules: Wikipedia policy and informal conventions

Page 4: Analysis of Wikipedia Editing (socio-technological infrastructure)

Activity system of a W’pedia article

mediating artifacts: wiki environment, sources

object: clean coal technologies article

outcome:

Wikipedia project

subject: “clean coal technologies” article authors

division of labor: editors, administrators, stewards

community: Wikipedia authors

rules: Wikipedia policy and informal conventions

socio-technological

Page 5: Analysis of Wikipedia Editing (socio-technological infrastructure)

Socio-technological infrastructure Community: strong sense

of community, dedicated Division of Labor: formal

roles, interest/expertise Rules: official policy,

unofficial practices

Page 6: Analysis of Wikipedia Editing (socio-technological infrastructure)

Socio-technological infrastructureFunctionality mediates fact-building Article

Page 7: Analysis of Wikipedia Editing (socio-technological infrastructure)

Socio-technological infrastructureFunctionality mediates fact-building Article

functionality: “fixed” text, though sources noted

Page 8: Analysis of Wikipedia Editing (socio-technological infrastructure)

Socio-technological infrastructureFunctionality mediates fact-building Edit this page

Page 9: Analysis of Wikipedia Editing (socio-technological infrastructure)

Socio-technological infrastructureFunctionality mediates fact-building Edit this page

functionality: text features, link/embed, hidden comment, block quote, reference

Page 10: Analysis of Wikipedia Editing (socio-technological infrastructure)

Socio-technological infrastructureFunctionality mediates fact-building History

Page 11: Analysis of Wikipedia Editing (socio-technological infrastructure)

Socio-technological infrastructureFunctionality mediates fact-building History

functionality: compare/search, revision statistics, undo, timestamp, userID, talk, notes

Page 12: Analysis of Wikipedia Editing (socio-technological infrastructure)

Socio-technological infrastructureFunctionality mediates fact-building Discussion/Talk pages

Page 13: Analysis of Wikipedia Editing (socio-technological infrastructure)

Socio-technological infrastructureFunctionality mediates fact-building Discussion/Talk pages

functionalities: edit, history, watch, purge

Page 14: Analysis of Wikipedia Editing (socio-technological infrastructure)

Socio-technological infrastructureFunctionality mediates fact-building User functionalities,

– “watch”– “profile”

Page 15: Analysis of Wikipedia Editing (socio-technological infrastructure)

Fact-building and infrastructure Much fact-building activity is

primarily mediated by mere writing, standard web technologies

Challenges lie in creating community, rules, labor-division

Biggest challenge in motivation toward goal

What can/should we design and how?

Page 16: Analysis of Wikipedia Editing (socio-technological infrastructure)

Swarts

Shaun SlatteryDePaul [email protected]://condor.depaul.edu/~sslatte1/