Stigmergy in Open Collaboration: An Empirical Investigation Based on Wikipedia

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Zheng, Lei (Nico); Mai, Feng; Yan, Bei; Nickerson, Jeffrey V.
• 署名单位: University of Massachusetts System; University of Massachusetts Boston; Stevens Institute of Technology
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0742-1222
• DOI: 10.1080/07421222.2023.2229119
• 发表日期: 2023
• 页码: 983-1008
• 关键词: online communities; COORDINATION; KNOWLEDGE; QUALITY; teams; size; incentives; FRAMEWORK; tension

摘要

Participants in open collaboration communities coproduce knowledge despite minimal explicit communication to coordinate the efforts. Studying how participants coordinate around the knowledge artifact and its impacts are critical for understanding the open knowledge production model. This study builds on the theory of stigmergy, wherein actions performed by a participant leave traces on a knowledge artifact and stimulate succeeding actions. We find that stigmergy involves two intertwined processes: collective modification and collective excitation. We propose a new measure of stigmergy based on the spatial and temporal clustering of contributions. By analyzing thousands of Wikipedia articles, we find that the degree of stigmergy is positively associated with community members' participation and the quality of the knowledge produced. This study contributes to the understanding of open collaboration by characterizing the spatial-temporal clustering of contributions and providing new insights into the relationship between stigmergy and knowledge production outcomes. These findings can help practitioners increase user engagement in knowledge production processes in order to create more sustainable open collaboration communities.