Decentralization in Wikipedia Governance
成果类型：
Article
署名作者：
Forte, Andrea; Larco, Vanessa; Bruckman, Amy
署名单位：
University System of Georgia; Georgia Institute of Technology
刊物名称：
JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS
ISSN/ISSBN：
0742-1222
DOI：
10.2753/MIS0742-1222260103
发表日期：
2009
页码：
49-72
关键词：
摘要：
How does self-governance happen in Wikipedia? Through in-depth interviews with 20 individuals who have held a variety of responsibilities in the English-language Wikipedia, we obtained rich descriptions of how various forces produce and regulate social structures on the site. Although Wikipedia is sometimes portrayed as lacking oversight, our analysis describes Wikipedia as an organization with highly refined policies, norms, and a technological architecture that supports organizational ideals of consensus building and discussion. We describe how governance on the site is becoming increasingly decentralized as the community grows and how this is predicted by theories of commons-based governance developed in offline contexts. We also briefly examine local governance structures called WikiProjects through the example of WikiProject Military History, one of the oldest and most prolific projects on the site.