When ever I come across something about which I want to know more, where do I go? Wikipedia of course! I have found, like millions of other online users, that this magical site often criticized for its ability to be flawed is full of useful information on almost any topic. Wikipedia taught me how to fry an egg! True story.
Well, I was thinking about this article that I read about Wikipedia about a week ago, and it mentioned that something like 1% of Wikipedia users are responsible for half of the site’s content. That’s HUGE! I guess it is sort of a misconception that online users contribute bits and pieces creating an effective, working “machine” together. Those higher ups not only create most of the site’s content, but they more or less “chaperone” the site, monitoring to make sure that what others post is accurate and obscenity free. I’ve heard stories about a random line appearing in a Wiki article only to disappear within minutes, but I had no idea the site was so heavily monitored. I just thought it was sort of a community effort.
I have always been fascinated by the workings of Wikipedia, but I find myself slightly let down to learn that the site is really ran by the elite few. It makes me wonder if cyber-communism could ever really work.
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The nice thing about Wikipedia though is that people have to list their sources. I don't trust information from Wikipedia, but if I want to find information on a subject, I go to the Wiki article because I know it will have links to articles, studies, etc.
Most of the world just leeches the info, but the small percentage that contributes is still a huge cooperative effort.
A Fact is Always Better Than an Ideal.
My interpretation was that the 1% was out of the contributers, sorry if that was unclear. I may be mistaken, however.
I doubt I have read the same article, but after checking out the subject it is much smaller than I thought.
only 75,000 contributors to Wikipedia not millions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:About
This is a study of the contributors with plenty of graphs:
http://www.wikisym.org/ws2007/_publish/Ortega_WikiSym2007_WikipediaQuant...
I need to find out more before I disagree. ;-)
A Fact is Always Better Than an Ideal.