Harnessing the Power of Collaborative Filtering

China’s Internet development raises questions on the interplay of user autonomy and Internet governance in the larger Chinese-language online cultural sphere. To what extent has user autonomy been established to conduct information gatekeeping collaboratively online? To examine how the power of Chinese-language Internet users has been harnessed in relation to the filtering and censorship regime, the article applies the concept of “network gatekeeping” to analyse two major user-generated websites, Chinese Wikipedia and Baidu Baike, as different examples of collaborative filtering projects. Effectively they share “word-of-mouth” recommendations on encyclopaedic knowledge and information by user-contributors to edit content from different parts of the world. Two salient network gatekeeping mechanisms have emerged: the censorship mechanisms in Baidu Baike and internationalisation/localisation mechanisms in Chinese Wikipedia. The findings show a contrast between the two interaction patterns, indicating mainland-centric versus transnational Chinese gatekeeping processes employing different kinds of collaborative filtering and different levels of user autonomy

China’s digital nationalism: search engines and online encyclopedias

Search engines play a vital role in positioning, organizing, and disseminating knowledge in China. Although there is a growing interest in China’s search engines, relatively few researches systematically examine their role involving nationalism. In order to address the research gap, this article compares the top thirty search results,from Baidu, 360 Search, Sogou Search, and Google regarding the “Meng Wanzhou Incident” while focusing on the overlap, ranking, and bias patterns. Furthermore, this study also analyses the differences between Wikipedia and China’s online encyclopedias concerning the “Meng Wanzhou Incident” in terms of content, structure, sources, and their main arguments. This article finds: 1) Chinese search engines favor their own services, thereby offering a unique and selective content bias; 2) Chinese search engines and online encyclopedias only provide Chinese sources that provide national biased knowledge, which raises search bias concerns; and 3) Chinese online encyclopedias offer a strong one-sided argument that is positive to China. Overall, this study finds that China’s search engines service the Chinese government’s self-interest by rendering overly biased social realities; moreover, they produce a logic of “imagined communities” to promote and stimulate feelings of nationalism.Asian Studie

Encyclopædia Britannica Online: an online edition of the reliable encyclopedia (2012‒2020)

Sa svrhom što potpunijega razumijevanja i donošenja bitnih navedenih zaključaka o općenitome predmetnom pitanju mrežnih priručničkih izdanja, ovaj rad, oprimjeren provedbom i ishodom postupka kakvoćnoga istraživanja Encyclopædije Britannice, daje njezin kraći razvojni pregled i opis glavnih značajka njezinih odabranih izdanja, uz njihovu usporedbu s drugim sličnim priručnicima. Uvodni dio stoga sažeto iznosi gotovo desetljetnu povijest postupnoga Britanničina prijelaza u mrežno okruženje. Raščlanjujući njezine sastavnice, Macropaediju, Micropaediju i Propaediju, i njezino uredničko usmjerenje, središnji pak dio podrobnije razmatra Britanničin put od knjižnične police do računalnoga zaslona te ju dovodi u poredbeni suodnos s ostalim priopćilima na zahtjevnome poslovnom tržištu, poglavito s Wikipedijom. Time je također zaključno ukazano i na neke mogućnosti uporabe takvih suvremenih mrežnih priručničkih sadržaja, koji obavijesnim i priopćajnim proširenjem dosadašnjih granica nedvojbeno postavljaju i nove sustavske razvojne zadatke.With an objective to comprehend a general matter of online encyclopedias as completely as possible and derive the quoted conclusions, this paper provides, by the conduct and result of a qualitative research method exemplified by Encyclopædia Britannica, its developmental outline and a hallmark description of its select editions, in addition to their comparison with other similar enchiridia. Consequently, the introductory part epitomizes an almost‐decennial history of Britannica’s gradual transition to an online environment. Analyzing its components of Macropædia, Micropædia, and Propædia and its editorial guidelines, the central part discusses Britannica’s way from a library shelf to a computer screen in more detail while establishing its comparative correlation with other multimedia on a demanding business market, especially with Wikipedia. Hereby, the paper also conclusively indicates several possibilities to use these modern online encyclopedic contents, which also set the new systemic developmental tasks by their informational and communicational expansion of the boundaries existent heretofore

An Investigation into Contribution I-Intention and We-Intention in Open Web-Based Encyclopedia: Roles of Joint Commitment and Mutual Agreement

In the current study, knowledge contribution in open web-based encyclopedia is conceptualized as a group-referent intentional social action, and we-intention, which reflects one’s perception of the group acting as a unit, has been employed. The motivation of this study thus is to better understand antecedents and consequences of contribution I-intention and we-intention in open web-based encyclopedia. A research model was developed and empirically examined with 202 knowledge contributors in two most famous wiki communities in Mainland China. The results demonstrated that personal outcome expectations exert significant effects on both intentions. Joint commitment, mutual agreement and community-related outcome expectations are significantly related to we-intention to contribute, but not related to I-intention. In addition, we-intention has a statistically significant positive effect on contribution behavior. However, I-intention negatively relates to contribution behavior. We believe this study will serve as a starting point for furthering our limited understanding of the intentional social action in knowledge management research

Interactive translation in cyberspace : translator-reader dynamics in online translation of children’s novels

This thesis investigates a new mode of online literary translation characterized by translator-reader interactions. Its focus is on Internet-mediated exchanges between a non-professional translator Xiao Mao and his readers in the production, dissemination, and reception of his online translations of three novels by E. B. White from 2000 to 2001. By employing the methodological framework of actor-network theory (ANT), this thesis sets out to unearth not only the interactive dynamics among heterogeneous (human and non-human) actors but also how these engagements shape the translations at different stages. This thesis first unravels how readers in the New Threads online community participated in Xiao Mao’s translation process via a mailing list. Triangulating paratexts, mailing-list archives, and my interviews with the translator and two readers, it reveals the polyphony of voices and multiple translatorship in the translation production. This thesis then examines how and why the translations were disseminated in cyberspace. It uncovers a decentralized and participatory peer-to-peer online distribution network, in which online readers acted as distributors by reposting and discussing the translations on various social media. Using a quantitative and qualitative analysis of posts from the translator and readers in the discussion forum, Xianxian Shuhua, this study finds that reception is a dynamic process in which interpretations and evaluations are conditioned by interactional mechanisms in online communities. Taken together, translator-reader dynamics pervade the three phases of Xiao Mao’s translations, and his translation mode can be theorized as interactive translation, consisting of interactive production, interactive dissemination, and interactive reception, which foregrounds the participatory nature of online translation. This study is original in unleashing the descriptive power of ANT in researching online translation. It also reconfigures the notions of translation, translator, and reader, and prompts us to reconsider the translation profession in the digital age

“The Sum of All Human Knowledge”: A Systematic Review of Scholarly Research on the Content of Wikipedia

Wikipedia might possibly be the best-developed attempt thus far of the enduring quest to gather all human knowledge in one place. Its accomplishments in this regard have made it an irresistible point of inquiry for researchers from various fields of knowledge. A decade of research has thrown light on many aspects of the Wikipedia community, its processes, and content. However, due to the variety of the fields inquiring about Wikipedia and the limited synthesis of the extensive research, there is little consensus on many aspects of Wikipedia’s content as an encyclopedic collection of human knowledge. This study addresses the issue by systematically reviewing 110 peer-reviewed publications on Wikipedia content, summarizing the current findings, and highlighting the major research trends. Two major streams of research are identified: the quality of Wikipedia content (including comprehensiveness, currency, readability and reliability) and the size of Wikipedia. Moreover, we present the key research trends in terms of the domains of inquiry, research design, data source, and data gathering methods. This review synthesizes scholarly understanding of Wikipedia content and paves the way for future studies