This week, I finished reading Clay Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody. In his book, Shirky examines group efforts, and how the internet has given them great power to “organize without organization.” Online groups are limitless in their number of members and categories. You can find a group for almost anything on the internet. How about people who enjoy pictures of other people with pancakes on their heads? Don’t believe me? Go here. While “pancakeheads” may not be changing the world, the effect the internet has on the power of a group is revolutionary. In a general sense, Shirky states that “groups can cover tasks that are bigger, more complex, more dispersed, and over a longer duration” than individuals alone, and that humans are natively good at group effort. In the sense of the internet, groups can offer a quick response to people’s needs and cover a much larger network.
This brings me to Wikipedia. In its simplest form Wikipedia illustrates collaborative group effort at its best, but it’s more than that. Wikipedia is by far the biggest example we have of knowledge as a social tool. It has over 2.4 million encyclopedic entries in the English version, and has an astounding registered user base of over 3.4 million people, 100,000 of them making more than ten edits to the project. 1,000 of these people contribute so frequently that they have been given the special status of “editors.”
One of the coolest things about Wikipedia is that its free to it’s users, and basically allows them to post their entries without restriction. In doing so, Wikipedia has created a unique community in how it collaborates and self-moderates its material. Let’s look at an example.
I type in 9:30 Club- my favorite venue for live music in Washington, DC. The article contains basic information about the club, it’s location, current owners, history, significant artists that have performed there, etc. Let’s first remember that this article was written by someone who felt that the 9:30 Club was important enough to spend time contributing to the article; but to see how the community aspect of Wikipedia really works, I must visit the discussion section. Here is where those who care enough about the 9:30 Club can see what information is still needed to make the page complete. The 9:30 Club page is rated as a “start page,” meaning that the Wikipedia editors still think it needs a lot of work to make it complete. There also quality control here. One user (D. Monack) questions another user (Agerard) who stated the 9:30 Club was located “down town.” He highlighted that portion of the article and poses his argument on the discussion page, then concludes with “that line smelled like B.S., so I’ve taken it out.” As the reader, I have the opportunity to message each of these users to question their reasoning, and edit the article myself if I see fit.
Conversations like the above showcase the true beauty of social media. When people are part of a community, they feel they must do their best to uphold the reputation of that community. Wikipedia taps into this sense of community by using knowledge as a social tool. Its members- the history buff, the green thumb, the domestic goddess-feel that their knowledge is worthwhile, important, and publishable. Group effort at its best.
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