A look at Wikipedia as an online community.

1. Free Web Based Encyclopedia and Community
By Carlton L. Benne. Jr
Mdm2010 IE Business School

2. What does the
word “Wikipedia”
Mean?
Its name is a
Portmanteau, a blend
of two or more words.
NO, it doesn’t mean

3. WIKI
• Technology for creaEng
collaboraEve websites which
emerged from the Hawaiian word
wiki, meaning "quick."

4. WIKI
ENCYLOPEDIA
“QUICK “ ENCYLOPEDIA
WIKIPEDIA
Web‐based and CollaboraEve
MulElingual Encyclopedia

5. WIKIPEDIA
Quick Facts • Wikipedia is not like your tradiEonal Encyclopedia
Britannica. It is a perfect example of the power of web
2.0 and open source services. This free online
encyclopedia is owned by the online community. It has
13 million arEcles (2.9 million in the English Wikipedia)
which have all been wri.en and edited collaboraEvely by
volunteers around the world.
– There is no formal review process of its arEcles.
– ArEcles are not owned by its creator, editor or any
recognized authority.
– Anyone who has access to the Wikipedia website can edit
arEcles.
– Free registraEon allows users to add arEcles (English ediEon
only).

6. The Wikipedia Community
CommuniEes Diverse and
within a giant Knowledgeable!
Wikipedians ‐Philosophers,
community? history buffs, scienEsts,
O`en involves an overlap of arEsts, religious people,
parEcipaEon of its members generalists, specialists, etc
into other language from all over the world.
wikipedias.
Poland
Netherlands
Germany
English
France
Italy
Russia
Portugal
Spain
Japan
Personal and Fragile
Wikipedia’s openness allows for self
expression which could be bias as Unique!
wikipedians contribute through their Unique mission comprises of
interests and goals. Community depends open content which is free
on good wikipedians. Without them the and available to everyone.
community will lose its appeal.

7. Wiki Community’s General Role
• Organize and edit individual pages
• Structure navigaEon between pages
• Resolve conflict between members
• Re‐engineer itself – creaEng rules and pa.erns of behavior
A Wikipedian’s General Role
Write text/arEcles and ParEcipate in the Community‐
contribute images and other ediEng arEcles, voEng, etc
media
Other

8. Typical Life Cycle of a Wiki
Member
Registered
Contributors: create Registered
arEcles, edit, and Contributor
submit media content Wikipedians
(Maslow’s
Non‐registered MoEvators)
Non‐registered
Contributors: edit and
submit media content Contributor
Lurker
Passer‐by (user of wiki
services)

9. Motivation
Mo>va>on
Wikipedia’s open source system creates a
a community where members can have a
sense of belonging, chance to boost their
ego‐status or have self actualizaEon by
contribuEng arEcles, ediEon and approval
of other content where they see fit.
Members are moEvated to contribute to
the largest encyclopedia of the world,
giving them exposure, recogniEon, pride
and a sense of accomplishment all for
free.
A wikipedian’s typical life cycle is based
on his or her moEvaEon to parEcipate. As
long as a member stays moEvated he or
she will conEnue to be a part of the
Wikipedia community. However, once the
moEvaEon is cut off, the wikipedian will
cease to be a member. The Wikipedia
Vicious Cycle is a big contributor of
destroying moEvaEon.

10. Barriers"
Wikipedia Vicious Cycle
Wikipedians are quietly and
acEvely parEcipaEng
Castle Jumpers like to build up Vandals
great content but have come by and generally reduce
tendencies to delete content the quality of arEcles just for
rather than allow others to enjoy fun
The Trolls consider the SYSOPS
the “enemy” and try everything Controversial Wikipedians
to antagonize and burn out
SYSOPS causing Wikipedians to are mistaken as Vandals
leave out of disgust.
SYSOPS (Administrators) track
and IP ban vandals but ignore the
Trolls

11. How the Virtual Circle is supposed
to Work!
The contributors are the backbone and
the meat of the Wikipedia community.
Just like a puzzle, every piece is
important as every contributor
(registered or not) is important.
Without the contributors there would
be no community. Each of them
(newcomers, non and registered
contributors, Sr. registered contributors)
from every part of the globe with
various language background is
connected through one common goal:
To create, edit and provide valuable
Mul3language content through a
collabora3ve effort free to the public.
Care to contribute to the puzzle?

12. Thank You
References
h.p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Virtual_community#MoEvaEons_and_barriers_to_contribuEng_to_virtual_commun
iEes
h.p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia
h.p://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_Vicious_Cycle
h.p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedians