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Is Wikipedia Inefficient? Modelling Effort and Participation in Wikipedia

Author

Listed:
  • Kevin Crowston

    (iSchool - School of Information Studies - Syracuse University)

  • Nicolas Jullien

    (LUSSI - Département Logique des Usages, Sciences sociales et Sciences de l'Information - UEB - Université européenne de Bretagne - European University of Brittany - Télécom Bretagne - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris], MARSOUIN - Môle Armoricain de Recherche sur la SOciété de l'information et des usages d'INternet - UR - Université de Rennes - UEB - Université européenne de Bretagne - European University of Brittany - UBS - Université de Bretagne Sud - ENSAI - Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Analyse de l'Information [Bruz] - UBO - Université de Brest - Télécom Bretagne - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris] - UR2 - Université de Rennes 2, ICI - Laboratoire Information, Coordination, Incitations - UEB - Université européenne de Bretagne - European University of Brittany - UBO - Université de Brest - Télécom Bretagne - IMT - Institut Mines-Télécom [Paris] - IBSHS - Institut Brestois des Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société - UBO - Université de Brest)

  • Felipe Ortega

    (Dept. of Statistics and Operational Investigation - URJC - Universidad Rey Juan Carlos [Madrid])

Abstract

Concerns have been raisedabout the decreased ability of Wikipedia to recruit editors and in to harness the effort of contributors to create new articles and improve existing articles. But, as Marwell & Oliver explained,in collective projects, in the initial stage of the project, people are few and efforts costly; in the diffusion phase, the number of participants grows as their efforts are rewarding; and in the mature phase, some inefficiency may appear as the number of contributors is more than the work requires. In this paper, thanks to original data we extract from 36 of the main language projects, we compare the efficiency of Wikipedia projects in different languages and at different states of development to examine this effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Kevin Crowston & Nicolas Jullien & Felipe Ortega, 2013. "Is Wikipedia Inefficient? Modelling Effort and Participation in Wikipedia," Post-Print hal-00947731, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00947731
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-00947731
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Erwan Joud & Nicolas Jullien & Marine Le Gall-Ely, 2016. "Allow prosumers to produce reality; they are gifted at that: the successful life of a non-human Wikipedian," Post-Print hal-01532032, HAL.

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