Temporal Analysis of Activity Patterns of Editors in Collaborative Mapping Project of OpenStreetMap

In the recent years Wikis have become an attractive platform for social studies of the human behaviour. Containing millions records of edits across the globe, collaborative systems such as Wikipedia have allowed researchers to gain a better understanding of editors participation and their activity patterns. However, contributions made to Geo-wikis_wiki-based collaborative mapping projects_ differ from systems such as Wikipedia in a fundamental way due to spatial dimension of the content that limits the contributors to a set of those who posses local knowledge about a specific area and therefore cross-platform studies and comparisons are required to build a comprehensive image of online open collaboration phenomena. In this work, we study the temporal behavioural pattern of OpenStreetMap editors, a successful example of geo-wiki, for two European capital cities. We categorise different type of temporal patterns and report on the historical trend within a period of 7 years of the project age. We also draw a comparison with the previously observed editing activity patterns of Wikipedia.Comment: Submitte

Circadian patterns of Wikipedia editorial activity: A demographic analysis

Wikipedia (WP) as a collaborative, dynamical system of humans is an appropriate subject of social studies. Each single action of the members of this society, i.e. editors, is well recorded and accessible. Using the cumulative data of 34 Wikipedias in different languages, we try to characterize and find the universalities and differences in temporal activity patterns of editors. Based on this data, we estimate the geographical distribution of editors for each WP in the globe. Furthermore we also clarify the differences among different groups of WPs, which originate in the variance of cultural and social features of the communities of editors

Dynamics of conflicts in Wikipedia

In this work we study the dynamical features of editorial wars in Wikipedia (WP). Based on our previously established algorithm, we build up samples of controversial and peaceful articles and analyze the temporal characteristics of the activity in these samples. On short time scales, we show that there is a clear correspondence between conflict and burstiness of activity patterns, and that memory effects play an important role in controversies. On long time scales, we identify three distinct developmental patterns for the overall behavior of the articles. We are able to distinguish cases eventually leading to consensus from those cases where a compromise is far from achievable. Finally, we analyze discussion networks and conclude that edit wars are mainly fought by few editors only.Comment: Supporting information adde

Finding Destinations in Search Engine Results

It is generally understood that information about products and services is essential in creating consumers’ perceptions and expectations towards tourism experiences. One of the channels potential tourists rely on is word-of-mouth, whose importance increased sharply since the rise of websites that allow tourists to share their experiences (consumer generated content). In this study we explore this issue by examining the prominence of one type of user generated content, Wikipedia, in destination search results. It was found that Wikipedia articles appear near the top of the list of retrieved results in nearly all of the top search engines. Implications are made regarding the use of Wikipedia articles to promote the destination

Évaluer Wikipédia : de l'expertise du produit éditorial à l'analyse des règles et pratiques citationnelles

L'originalité du mode d'élaboration de Wikipédia a suscité de nombreuses recherches relatives à la qualité de l'information disponible dans cette source. Leur synthèse, présentée ici, ne prétend pas à l'exhaustivité mais vise plutôt à les catégoriser. Nous différencions ainsi trois approches de l'évaluation de cette encyclopédie collaborative que nous désignons sous les termes d'" expertise informationnelle ", de " processus éditorial-produit " et de " point de vue interne ". En lien avec cette dernière approche, nous exposons les enjeux et questions de recherche à propos d'un objet d'étude spécifique : les règles et pratiques citationnelles au sein de Wikipédia

CONTROLLING THE OPEN CONTENT CREATION PROCESS: AN ANALYSIS OF CONTROL MECHANISMS USING THE REPERTORY GRID METHOD

We develop a governance framework for open collaboration, specifically for the process of collaborative content creation. Our analysis is based on in-depth interviews with 12 active Wikipedians using the repertory grid method. The framework reflects the governance of wiki-based peer production by identifying the different structures, processes and mechanisms which guide and control the contributions and activities of individuals. Our findings concerning the driving principles for successful governance recognize four such principles: the power of the many, the influence of the few, the role of (persistent) conversations, and the value of rules

When Does Crowd Size Matter? The Influence of Diversity and Experience on the Effects of Crowd Size

One advantage of crowds over traditional teams is that crowds enable the assembling of a large number of individuals to address problems. The literature is unclear, however, about when crowd size leads to better outcomes. To better understand the effects of crowd size we conducted a study on the retention and performance of 4,317 articles in the WikiProject Film community. Results indicate that crowd composition, specifically diversity and experience, is vital to understanding when size leads to better retention and performance. Crowd size was positively related to retention and performance when crowds were high in diversity and experience. Retention was important to determining when crowd size led to better performance. Crowd size was positively related to performance when retention was low. Our results suggest that crowds benefit from their size when they are diverse, experienced, and have low retention rates.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/113094/1/When Does Crowd Size Matters?.pdfDescription of When Does Crowd Size Matters?.pdf : Main articl