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Project talk: coordination work and group membership in WikiProjects

Published: 05 August 2013 Publication History

Abstract

WikiProjects have contributed to Wikipedia's success in important ways, yet the range of work that WikiProjects perform and the way they coordinate that work remains largely unexplored. In this study, we perform a content analysis of 788 work-related discussions from the talk pages of 138 WikiProjects in order to understand the role WikiProjects play in collaborative work on Wikipedia. We find that the editors use WikiProjects to coordinate a wide variety of work activities beyond content production and that non-members play an active role in that work. Our research suggests that WikiProject collaboration is less structured and more open than that of many virtual teams and that WikiProjects may function more like FLOSS projects than traditional groups.

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Cited By

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  • (2023)How Did They Build the Free Encyclopedia? A Literature Review of Collaboration and Coordination among Wikipedia EditorsACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/361736931:1(1-48)Online publication date: 29-Nov-2023
  • (2023)Taboo and Collaborative Knowledge Production: Evidence from WikipediaProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36100907:CSCW2(1-25)Online publication date: 4-Oct-2023
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    cover image ACM Other conferences
    WikiSym '13: Proceedings of the 9th International Symposium on Open Collaboration
    August 2013
    248 pages
    ISBN:9781450318525
    DOI:10.1145/2491055
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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    Published: 05 August 2013

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    Author Tags

    1. Wikipedia
    2. group identity
    3. group work
    4. open collaboration

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    WikiSym '13 Paper Acceptance Rate 22 of 43 submissions, 51%;
    Overall Acceptance Rate 69 of 145 submissions, 48%

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    View all
    • (2023)How Did They Build the Free Encyclopedia? A Literature Review of Collaboration and Coordination among Wikipedia EditorsACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/361736931:1(1-48)Online publication date: 29-Nov-2023
    • (2023)Taboo and Collaborative Knowledge Production: Evidence from WikipediaProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36100907:CSCW2(1-25)Online publication date: 4-Oct-2023
    • (2022)Human and Technological Infrastructures of Fact-checkingProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35551436:CSCW2(1-36)Online publication date: 11-Nov-2022
    • (2022)There is No App for That: Manifestations of the Digital Divides During COVID-19 School Closures in IndiaProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35551406:CSCW2(1-26)Online publication date: 11-Nov-2022
    • (2022)Proactive Moderation of Online Discussions: Existing Practices and the Potential for Algorithmic SupportProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35550956:CSCW2(1-27)Online publication date: 11-Nov-2022
    • (2022)From Environmental Monitoring to Mitigation Action: Considerations, Challenges, and Opportunities for HCIProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35550936:CSCW2(1-31)Online publication date: 11-Nov-2022
    • (2022)Platform-mediated Markets, Online Freelance Workers and Deconstructed IdentitiesProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/35550926:CSCW2(1-24)Online publication date: 11-Nov-2022
    • (2018)Beyond notification: Filling gaps in peer production projectsNew Media & Society10.1177/146144481876087020:10(3799-3817)Online publication date: 24-Mar-2018
    • (2018)'Welcome' Changes?Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/32743212:CSCW(1-26)Online publication date: 1-Nov-2018
    • (2018)Do We All Talk Before We Type?Proceedings of the 14th International Symposium on Open Collaboration10.1145/3233391.3233542(1-11)Online publication date: 22-Aug-2018
    • Show More Cited By

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