week12--reading marterials

 This week I read Chapter 6

This chapter shows a profound contradiction in open collaborative projects such as Wikipedia: the idealized principles of equality and openness must require some form of leadership in practice to reconcile conflicts and ensure efficiency. As the founder, Jimmy Wales' role was portrayed as a "benevolent dictator" or "constitutional monarch", which was not a betrayal of democratic principles, but a pragmatic choice. His authority did not come from coercion, but from the "reputation capital" accumulated by continuous contributions and the tacit approval of community consensus. The core of this leadership lies in a careful balance: exercising temporary decision-making power to protect the project in times of crisis, while hiding behind the scenes in daily operations, promoting the development of arbitration committees and administrator systems, and shaping community culture by emphasizing core values ​​such as patience, goodwill, and respect for consensus. Sanger's failure experience confirms from the opposite side that in an open community, the lack of effective leadership or improper methods will lead to division. Ultimately, the success of Wikipedia depends on its unique hybrid governance model - in an open and equal framework, it accommodates the necessary authority based on trust and contribution to cope with scale expansion and complex challenges.

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