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The Wikipedia Revolution How a bunch of nobodies created the world largest encyclopedia

The Wikipedia Revolution How a bunch of nobodies created the world largest encyclopedia By: Andre Lih. Listing. Author Introduction Founder’s Introduction Wiki Intro…. Wiki Phenomenon… Wiki Phenomenon… Travel to Nupedia … Nupedian Rules Nupedia departs…wiki introduced

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The Wikipedia Revolution How a bunch of nobodies created the world largest encyclopedia

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  1. The Wikipedia Revolution How a bunch of nobodies created the world largest encyclopedia By: Andre Lih

  2. Listing • Author Introduction • Founder’s Introduction • Wiki Intro…. • Wiki Phenomenon… • Wiki Phenomenon… • Travel to Nupedia… • Nupedian Rules • Nupedia departs…wiki introduced • Wiki introduced… • The Piranha effect… • Wiki policy in short • Wiki goes international… • Crisis of community • Wiki makes waves…

  3. Author Introduction • Andrew Lih Wikipedia Insider for 4 years • A Technical System Administrator • Now an academic cum Journalist @ Columbia University and University of Hongkong Founder’s Introduction • Jimmy Wales- Born in Alabama in 60s in a modest family • Graduated in finance from University of Alabama and Half PHD from Indiana • Initially worked for bomis.com (a project used rings to organize chain of websites for users to browse)

  4. Wiki Intro…. “Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That’s what we’re doing…” Jimmy wales • Encyclopedia – a Greek note meaning “rounded education” or something contains entirely of general knowledge • Wiki – Hawaiian word used for “Quick” • The largest online encyclopedia • 13M articles • 260 languages • 2,978,833 in English • 75,000 active contributors • Attracting 65 million visitors • A tech-socio innovation

  5. Wiki Phenomenon… • Why would people flock to Wikipedia to contribute their time and energy for free? • It is a free EP • Volunteers believe they aren’t making any firm or individual rich as a cause • Freedom to contribute – no corporate profit oriented policy • No hierarchy of administration to fight with • No union-owner relationship • To praise • To learn • To challenge • To cooperate, collaborate and in turn share knowledge without commercial interest • Wikipedia mantra: BE BOLD

  6. Travel to Nupedia… • Born from the pouch of bomis.com (a profit oriented experimental project) • Richard stallman’s Copy left license – everyone can study, use, modify, and distribute a work • FSF – Free software Foundation • Used concept of GNU – Graphical but not UNIX – LINUX in the scene • DMOZ in 1998 by Skertna and Truel – a homage website directory listing: add known websites in the list if it is not there • PERL (practical extraction and reporting language) • Wales inspiration from the above (why not a free encyclopedia?) for the dream a free online, editable content world to be name Nupediawithin the volunteer community

  7. Nupedian Rules • Issue - Bias of the volunteers • Solution • Neutrality was agreed to be maintained- NPOV • Management by experts • Rigorous Process • Email communication to be used • Use contacts and network of Ph.Ds and Professors and highly experienced contributors and editors • First article was in September 2000 on “Atonality” • Process proved later to be slow Every artist was first an amateur – Ralph Emerson Assignment Finding a lead review Lead review Open review Lead copyediting Open copyediting Final approval and markup

  8. Nupedia departs…wiki introduced • By 2000 it was stuck • Ideas were not working (boring ftp…) • Kovitz came up with “edit” button idea over the page • Editing (even by strangers) takes place in the web browser using Mark up language rather than ftp etc. • Quality does not mean being selective and restrictive • Sanger named it wikipedia • First article was on English letter “U”

  9. Wiki introduced… • Wiki achieved in weeks what nupedia did in one year • Slashdotting by moderation points – a review of selected readers to rate (as “insightful, interesting or flamebait” etc)the merit of individual comments • Oxford contributors • Used GDFL (GNU Free distribution License) • UseMod Grows software instead of UseMod Wiki using Mysql and PHP infrastructure and now MediaWiki

  10. Wiki introduced… • Started on 1 server • 2004- 9 servers (1 DB and 8 web) • Now more than 30 servers • Usenet legacy community communication • Introduced IRC in 2001 • Grew from 0 to 20,000 articles & 200 contributors by 2002 • Squid cache inserted in 2004 • Deletion issue – trusted sysop having deletion rights selected with votes • Almost every Wikipedian get a crash course in intellectual law

  11. Wiki introduced… • Inverted pyramid approach – most important facts on top • Main section – subsections • Wiki markup language to provide edit function • Meta pages – eg history, discussions, sources • Just-the-facts style • Logging and tracking • Signaling community • Other links

  12. The Piranha effect…“the only think that will redeem mankind is cooperation” – B Russell • Learned from animal kingdom • Survive, live, feed, build, and hunt together • Aunts, bees---self identified roles • Workers, queen the drones • French call it Piranha effect • Collective intelligence Wiki policy in short • Encyclopedia • NPOV • Free content • Code of conduct • No firm rules • SOFIXIT • Inclusionistvs exclusionist • “A topic is presumed to be noteable if it has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject” • Vote for deletion

  13. Wiki goes international…England & America are two countries separated by a common language….G Bernard Shaw By 2003 ranked equal to Britannica.com in hits

  14. Crisis of community • Expansion making volunteers strangers in community • Sense of work being ruined by editing • People showing their stress meters – “I quit / need vacations”… • RickK identified a violation of unauthorized text by Coolcat • Community asked for benefit of doubt • RikK reverted 4th time crossing limit of 3 and was blocked by silsor • RikK ‘s farewall message • Community still nostalgic about his work

  15. Crisis of community • Criticism of being no more Anti-Elitism • The seigenthaler incident • A false Wikipedia Biogrpahy - Stated to be factually incorrect association of John Seigenthaler in JF Keneddy murder • Wikipedia prevented anonymous users from creating new articles – No drive-by page creation • Semi-Protection • The Essjay Controversy • Early 2007: Essjay account created article to clarify latin phrase in Catholicism mentioning his wrong credentials of Ph.D and Bachelors • Issue was community support – climax was Essjay’s farewall

  16. Wiki makes waves…“First they ignore, then laugh @ u, then fight and then u win - Gandhi” • December 8, 2008 – UK censors Wikipedia against some readers objections and offenses • Microsoft enters into users contribution • Wikitorials – wiki editorials • June 2008: Britannica goes free and collaborative • The future: Wikipedians shall write their own prognosis • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SXJ30oS0WQ

  17. The greatest enemy of revolution is its success…

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