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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-GB link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>“</span><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black;background:white'>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.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black;background:white'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black;background:white'>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…”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black;background:white'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black;background:white'>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). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black;background:white'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black;background:white'>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).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black;background:white'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black;background:white'>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.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black;background:white'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black;background:white'>Thanks,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black;background:white'>Ramine <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> sociam-soton-bounces@ecs.soton.ac.uk [mailto:sociam-soton-bounces@ecs.soton.ac.uk] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Sackley, Alistair<br><b>Sent:</b> 20 November 2013 07:54<br><b>To:</b> 'sociam-soton@ecs.soton.ac.uk'<br><b>Subject:</b> [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<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>New crowds and modes of participation?</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>--</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN style='font-size:18.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>alistair sackley</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>strategy manager</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>t +44 (0)1962 871663</span><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#8DB3E2'><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/alistair-sackley/27/311/3a2" target="_new"><span style='color:#8DB3E2;text-decoration:none'> linkedin</span></a> </span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='line-height:15.0pt'><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#333333'>m +44 (0)7793 759028</span><span lang=EN style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:#8DB3E2'> <a href="http://www3.hants.gov.uk/itservices.htm"><span style='color:#8DB3E2;text-decoration:none'>hampshire it</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>*** This email, and any attachments, is strictly confidential and may be legally privileged. 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