Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a multilingual, Web-based, free-content encyclopedia written collaboratively by volunteers and operated by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation based in St. Petersburg, Florida. It has editions in about 200 languages (about 100 of which are active). Ten editions have more than 50,000 articles each: English, German, French, Japanese, Italian, Polish, Swedish, Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish. According to Hitwise, an online measurement company, Wikipedia is currently the most popular reference site on the Internet.

Editing

Almost all visitors may edit Wikipedia's articles and have their changes instantly displayed. Wikipedia is built on the belief that collaboration among users will improve articles over time, in much the same way that open-source software develops. Its authors need not have any expertise or formal qualifications in the subjects which they edit, and users are warned that their contributions may be "edited mercilessly and redistributed at will" by anyone who so wishes. Its articles are not controlled by any particular user or editorial group, and decision-making on the content and editorial policies of Wikipedia is instead done by consensus and occasionally vote, though Jimmy Wales retains final judgment.{{ref|Structure}}

Related Topics:
Open-source software - Consensus - Jimmy Wales

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By the nature of its openness, "edit wars" and prolonged disputes often occur when editors do not agree.{{ref|EditWar}} A few members of its community have explained its editing process as a collaborative work, a "socially Darwinian evolutionary process"{{ref|WikiExp}}, but this is not generally considered by the community to be an accurate self-description. Articles are always subject to editing, such that Wikipedia does not declare any article finished. Certain users monitor editing to prevent false information and spam.

Related Topics:
Openness - Socially Darwinian - Evolutionary

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Policies

Wikipedia requires that contributors observe a "neutral point of view" when writing, and not include original research. Neutral point of view, itself a "non-negotiable" policy,{{ref|NPOVnegot}} articulates the encyclopedia's goal as "representing" disputes, "characterizing" them, rather than engaging in them."{{ref|NPOVwp}} If achieved, Wikipedia would not be written from a single "objective" point-of-view, but would fairly present all views on an issue, attributed to their adherents in a neutral way. The policy states that views should be given weight equal to their popularity. This policy has been criticized as having an unattainable goal, being unnecessary with widely discredited material, and allowing the representation of "morally offensive" views.{{ref|NPOVwp2}} Opinions or theories that have not been previously published are considered "original research", which is not allowed. The "no original research" policy states that such material cannot be properly attributed under neutral point of view, and that editors' own novel ideas or perspectives are not to be introduced.{{ref|OriginalResearch}}

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Wikipedia's contributors additionally maintain a variety of lesser policies and guidelines. In contrast to other wikis of its time, such as Ward Cunningham's Portland Pattern Repository, Wikipedians use "talk" pages to discuss changes to articles, rather than discussing changes within the article itself. Wikipedia contributors often modify, move, or delete articles that are felt to be inappropriate to an encyclopedia, such as dictionary definitions ("dicdefs") or original source texts.{{ref|Unsuitable}} Often, Wikipedia editions establish style conventions.

Related Topics:
Ward Cunningham - Portland Pattern Repository - Dictionary

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Authors

There are no formal distinctions between different editors on Wikipedia, and decisions are ideally made by reaching consensus among those involved. During January 2005, Wikipedia had about 13,000 users who made at least five edits that month; 9,000 of these active users worked on its three largest language editions.{{ref|AuthorsCount}} A more active group of about 3,000 users made more than 100 edits per month, over half of these users having worked in the three largest editions. According to Wikimedia, one-quarter of Wikipedia's traffic comes from users without accounts, who are less likely to be editors.{{ref|WikiMediaPedia}}

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Maintenance tasks are performed by a group of volunteer developers, stewards, bureaucrats, and administrators, which number in the hundreds. Administrators are the largest such group, privileged with the ability to prevent articles from being edited, delete articles, or block users from editing in accordance with community policy. Many users have been temporarily or permanently blocked from editing Wikipedia. Vandalism or the minor infraction of policies may result in a warning or temporary block, while long-term or permanent blocks for prolonged and serious infractions are given by Jimmy Wales or, on its English edition, an elected Arbitration Committee.

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Former Wikipedia editor-in-chief Larry Sanger has said that having the GFDL license as a "guarantee of freedom is a strong motivation to work on a free encyclopedia."{{ref|Britannica}} In a study of Wikipedia as a community, Economics professor Andrea Ciffolilli argued that the low transaction costs of participating in wiki software create a catalyst for collaborative development, and that a "creative construction" approach encourages participation.{{ref|Ciffolilli2003}} Wikipedia has been viewed as a social experiment in anarchy or democracy. Its founder has replied that it is not intended as one, though that is a consequence.{{ref|Social}} In a page on researching with Wikipedia, its authors argue that Wikipedia is valuable for being a social community. That is, authors can be asked to defend or clarify their work, and disputes are readily seen.{{ref|Researching}} Wikipedia editions also often contain reference desks in which the community answers questions.

Related Topics:
Larry Sanger - GFDL - Transaction cost - Wiki - Anarchy - Democracy - Reference desk

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