[Sociam-soton] Re: [Sociam-all] Re: http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/520446/the-decline-of-wikipedia/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-weekly-web&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20131120

Fri Nov 22 13:26:49 GMT 2013

Well, without respect, that is a crap, insider’s view - he should get out more.
As Aaron† explained, JW’s views on exactly who the important contributors are based on statistics are bizarre - or has he changed since 2008?

I may be old, but I am not a woman or lack confidence.
I would never now contribute to Wikipedia - and only yesterday I was asked by someone if I thought they should put stuff in there, and I said no, put it in Google Knowledge Graph (Freebase) (despite its appalling interface) if you want to put it somewhere.
I have no reason to believe that my experience is any different.

I consider Google the current evil empire, but the culture there is what I actually want.

Actually, I would love a straw poll of how many people in SOCIAM have actually got experience of editing Wikipedia.
Hang on, why don’t I ask:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/L9ZNFZB
Just a few Yes/No questions - I’ve never constructed one before, so bear with me if it is crap.
I’m particularly interested many people have experience of actually creating a page.

Cheers
Hugh

On 22 Nov 2013, at 11:19, Mab Gmail <byrnemairea at gmail.com> wrote:

> Just to add to this a bit late, am at the launch for Web Index 2013 and I think that Jimmy W has just explained in more detail that they feel that the interfaces and the culture might be putting off women or older people who might have lots to contribute but may not be as confident as the core contributors.
> 
> Maire
> 
> 
>> On 20 Nov 2013, at 10:25, Hugh Glaser <hugh at glasers.org> wrote:
>> 
>> This was my comment on Facebook when this article was raised:
>> 
>> Such a shame that this article or the one it is based on can't seem to find any space to reference Aaron Swartz's † 2006 article.
>> http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/whowriteswikipedia and http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/morewikipedians etc.
>> In fact, it feels like they never saw Aaron's stuff, as they wouldn't need to write their article about how things went wrong around that time!
>> Lots of this thing feels like typical insiders' analysis.
>> It isn't about "retention" of newcomers as editors etc., mostly with a view that the important people are the ones who contribute a lot (it is quite possible that what I want is only known by one other person in the world, and that is the only thing they have to contribute).
>> Wikipedia is fundamentally broken if it wants to “compile the sum of all human knowledge” - you can't do that and have the rules they have introduced.
>> 
>>> On 20 Nov 2013, at 09:12, Brown I.C. <icb1g12 at soton.ac.uk> wrote:
>>> 
>>> I wonder about cognitive differences between the engagement of the crowd when they are learning/discovering something new in a system like Zooniverse versus recording/curating what they already know in Wikipedia. Is the level of achievement/gratification different? Is zooniverse fun and wikipedia a chore?
>>> 
>>> On 20 Nov 2013, at 08:54, Ramine Tinati <rt506 at ecs.soton.ac.uk<mailto:rt506 at ecs.soton.ac.uk>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> “The foundation can’t order the volunteer community to change the way it operates. But by tweaking Wikipedia’s website and software, it hopes to steer the encyclopedia onto a more sustainable path.”
>>> 
>>> Interesting approach to manipulating the users/volunteers of Wikipedia – technology-driven changes to engage with a new community of users, or simply, “we shall use flashy Web 2.0 features to get more participants…”
>>> 
>>> One worry is that this may alienate the already shrinking core group of volunteers, as well as provide a short term fix to increase the number of new ‘volunteers’ (these users will probably stick around for a short while, use the new features, then leave).
>>> 
>>>> From another perspective, we could consider the shrinking number of volunteers as the community reaching the optimal (…) number of people needed/able to function as a community, and I wonder how this could relate to community dynamics and the size of an individual’s social network (and their capability to interact with larger networks).
>>> 
>>> Whatever the case, this is a social machine that will provide lots of insight into socio-technical interactions, especially when then implement their system changes.
>>> 
>>> Thanks,
>>> Ramine
>>> 
>>> From: sociam-soton-bounces at ecs.soton.ac.uk<mailto:sociam-soton-bounces at ecs.soton.ac.uk> [mailto:sociam-soton-bounces at ecs.soton.ac.uk] On Behalf Of Sackley, Alistair
>>> Sent: 20 November 2013 07:54
>>> To: 'sociam-soton at ecs.soton.ac.uk<mailto:sociam-soton at ecs.soton.ac.uk>'
>>> Subject: [Sociam-soton] http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/520446/the-decline-of-wikipedia/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-weekly-web&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20131120
>>> 
>>> New crowds and modes of participation?
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> alistair sackley
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>> Hugh Glaser
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Hugh Glaser
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