Rut Jesus’s research while affiliated with IT University of Copenhagen and other places

Theoretical frameworks need to be developed to account for the phenomenon of Wikipedia and writing in Wikis. In this paper, a cognitive framework divides processes into the categories of Cognition for Planning and Cognition for Improvising. This distinction is applied to Wikipedia to understand the many small and the few big edits by which Wikipedia's articles grow. The paper relates the distinction to Lessig' Read-Only and Read-Write, to Benkler's modularity and granularity of contributions and to Turkle and Papert's bricoleurs and planners. It argues that Wikipedia thrives because it harnesses a Cognition for Improvising surplus oriented by kindness and trust towards distant others and proposes that Cognition for Improvising is a determinant mode for the success of Wikis and Wikipedia. The theoretical framework can be a starting point for a cognitive discussion of wikis, peer-produced commons and new patterns of collaboration.

This exploratory study investigates the bipartite network of articles linked by common editors in Wikipedia, 'The Free Encyclopedia that Anyone Can Edit'. We use the articles in the categories (to depth three) of Physics and Philosophy and extract and focus on significant editors (at least 7 or 10 edits per each article). We construct a bipartite network, and from it, overlapping cliques of densely connected articles and editors. We cluster these densely connected cliques into larger modules to study examples of larger groups that display how volunteer editors flock around articles driven by interest, real-world controversies, or the result of coordination in WikiProjects. Our results confirm that topics aggregate editors; and show that highly coordinated efforts result in dense clusters.

A growing number of projects seek to build upon the collective intelligence of Internet users, looking for more dynamic, open and creative approaches to content creation and knowledge sharing. To this end, many projects have chosen the wiki, and it is therefore the subject of much research interest, particularly Wikipedia, from varied disciplines. The array of approaches to study wikis is a source of wealth, but also a possible source of confusion: What are appropriate methodologies for the analysis of wiki communities? Which are the most critical parameters (both quantitative and qualitative) for study in wiki evolution and outcomes? Is it possible to find effective interdisciplinary approaches to augment our overall understanding of these dynamic, creative environments? This workshop intends to provide an opportunity to explore these questions, by researchers and practitioners willing to participate in a “brainstorming research meeting”