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1. Wikipedia in Short: Numbers, Rules, and Editors

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Common Knowledge?
This chapter is in the book Common Knowledge?
Wikipedia: Basic FactsTo analyze Wikipedia as a phenomenon and a community, it may be useful to understand its origins, history, and growth. Wikipedia, contrary to popu-lar belief, was not the first wiki. A “wiki” (derived from the Hawaiian word for “quick” and named after the Wiki Wiki shuttle at Honolulu International Airport) is a website technology that tracks users’ changes, which can be made in a simplified markup language (allowing easy additions of, for exam-ple, bold, italics, or tables without the need to learn HTML syntax). The first wiki was created and released in 1995 by Ward Cunningham as WikiWikiWeb. WikiWikiWeb was an attractive choice to enterprises and was (and sometimes still is) used for communication, collaborative idea development, documenta-tion, intranets, and knowledge management. It grew steadily in popularity.In 2000 Jimmy “Jimbo” Wales, then the CEO of Bomis, started up his en-cyclopedic project, Nupedia, which was meant to be an online encyclopedia, with free content written by experts. In an attempt to meet the standards set by professional encyclopedias, the creators of Nupedia based it on a peer-review process. The website relied on an assumption that scholars would generate content for free. But Nupedia developed slowly, and its editor in chief, Larry Sanger, hired by Wales to oversee its development, adopted a suggestion by Ben Kovitz1 to use wiki software and philosophy for the cre-ation of encyclopedic content. This idea resonated with Wales’s vision of Wikipedia in ShortNumbers, Rules, and Editors1
© 2020 Stanford University Press, Redwood City

Wikipedia: Basic FactsTo analyze Wikipedia as a phenomenon and a community, it may be useful to understand its origins, history, and growth. Wikipedia, contrary to popu-lar belief, was not the first wiki. A “wiki” (derived from the Hawaiian word for “quick” and named after the Wiki Wiki shuttle at Honolulu International Airport) is a website technology that tracks users’ changes, which can be made in a simplified markup language (allowing easy additions of, for exam-ple, bold, italics, or tables without the need to learn HTML syntax). The first wiki was created and released in 1995 by Ward Cunningham as WikiWikiWeb. WikiWikiWeb was an attractive choice to enterprises and was (and sometimes still is) used for communication, collaborative idea development, documenta-tion, intranets, and knowledge management. It grew steadily in popularity.In 2000 Jimmy “Jimbo” Wales, then the CEO of Bomis, started up his en-cyclopedic project, Nupedia, which was meant to be an online encyclopedia, with free content written by experts. In an attempt to meet the standards set by professional encyclopedias, the creators of Nupedia based it on a peer-review process. The website relied on an assumption that scholars would generate content for free. But Nupedia developed slowly, and its editor in chief, Larry Sanger, hired by Wales to oversee its development, adopted a suggestion by Ben Kovitz1 to use wiki software and philosophy for the cre-ation of encyclopedic content. This idea resonated with Wales’s vision of Wikipedia in ShortNumbers, Rules, and Editors1
© 2020 Stanford University Press, Redwood City

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Prologue vii
  4. Acknowledgments xv
  5. Introduction 1
  6. 1. Wikipedia in Short: Numbers, Rules, and Editors 10
  7. 2. Formal Roles and Hierarchy: A Cabal That Rules the World 29
  8. 3. Conflict Resolution on Wikipedia: Why Die for Danzig? 59
  9. 4. Bureaucracy and Control: Big Brother Is Watching 85
  10. 5. Trust in People and Trust in Procedures: The Truth Is Out There 105
  11. 6. Between Anarchy and Bureaucracy: Wikimedia Governance 125
  12. 7. Leadership Transformed: The Pros and Cons of Benevolent Dictatorship 153
  13. 8. The Knowledge Revolution at the Gates 181
  14. Appendix A: Methodology 193
  15. Appendix B: Glossary of Wikipedia Slang 203
  16. Notes 227
  17. References 237
  18. Index 281
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9780804791205-004

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents v
  3. Prologue vii
  4. Acknowledgments xv
  5. Introduction 1
  6. 1. Wikipedia in Short: Numbers, Rules, and Editors 10
  7. 2. Formal Roles and Hierarchy: A Cabal That Rules the World 29
  8. 3. Conflict Resolution on Wikipedia: Why Die for Danzig? 59
  9. 4. Bureaucracy and Control: Big Brother Is Watching 85
  10. 5. Trust in People and Trust in Procedures: The Truth Is Out There 105
  11. 6. Between Anarchy and Bureaucracy: Wikimedia Governance 125
  12. 7. Leadership Transformed: The Pros and Cons of Benevolent Dictatorship 153
  13. 8. The Knowledge Revolution at the Gates 181
  14. Appendix A: Methodology 193
  15. Appendix B: Glossary of Wikipedia Slang 203
  16. Notes 227
  17. References 237
  18. Index 281
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