Wikimedia Research/Showcase/Archive/2015/01

January 2015

January 14, 2015 Video: YouTube

Functional roles and career paths in Wikipedia

Presentation slides

By Felipe Ortega

An understanding of participation dynamics within online production communities requires an examination of the roles assumed by participants. Recent studies have established that the organizational structure of such communities is not flat; rather, participants can take on a variety of well-defined functional roles. What is the nature of functional roles? How have they evolved? And how do participants assume these functions? Prior studies focused primarily on participants' activities, rather than functional roles. Further, extant conceptualizations of role transitions in production communities, such as the Reader to Leader framework, emphasize a single dimension: organizational power, overlooking distinctions between functions. In contrast, in this paper we empirically study the nature and structure of functional roles within Wikipedia, seeking to validate existing theoretical frameworks. The analysis sheds new light on the nature of functional roles, revealing the intricate "career paths" resulting from participants' role transitions.

Free Knowledge Beyond Wikipedia

A conversation facilitated by Benjamin Mako Hill

In some of my research with Leah Buechley, I've explored the way that increasing engagement and diversity in technology communities often means not just attacking systematic barriers to participation but also designing for new genres and types of engagement. I hope to facilitate a conversation about how WMF might engage new readers by supporting more non-encyclopedic production. I'd like to call out some examples from the new Wikimedia project proposals list, encourage folks to share entirely new ideas, and ask for ideas about how we could dramatically better support Wikipedia's sister projects.