Week6-reading watching blog-QU HONGYU 굴홍우

Summary:

  This article explores the close relationship between Wikipedia's success and its collaborative culture. The author starts with Wikipedia's logo - an incomplete jigsaw puzzle of the earth - as a metaphor for how Wikipedia's neutral point of view (NPOV) and Good Faith have come together to build the global encyclopedia. 

  The article mentions that while technology (such as Wikinware) has played a major role in Wikipedia's success, what really drives its growth is a strong collaborative culture and community norms such as "assume goodwill" and "don't bite new people." The authors also discuss the challenges facing Wikipedia, including changes in the community, the trend toward bureaucratization, and questions about its future. Still, Wikipedia is seen as a successful open content community whose collaborative culture and quest for knowledge make it a unique phenomenon.


Interesting point:

  The article refers to "Godwin's Law," which states that in online discussions, participants are increasingly likely to compare each other to Nazis as the discussion progresses. The authors argue that Wikipedia's collaborative culture inhibits this trend through positive norms such as "assumed good will," calling out "the better angels of our nature."


Discussion:

  How effective has Wikipedia's collaborative culture been in suppressing the antagonism that is common in online discussions (a phenomenon described by Godwin's Law)? Do you think this culture can be generalized to other online communities or real-life collaborative projects?


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