Dear everybody,
I am new to this list, but I need your help, as I am currently busy with my
B.A.Thesis on Wikipedia's Success Factors.
I would very much appreciate your comments and critique on the following:
Wikipedia's success mainly depend on its users - the Wikipedians. In
theory, everybody can be a Wikipedian. This thread is supposed to find
out if the theory holds true in practice.
The idea is that the Wiki-community of Wikipedians is a special group
of people, who have special characteristcs. To account for these
special characteristics, I have provided the following Factor
Model:
User factors: - Openness - Neutrality -
Flat hierarchy- Computer Skills - Motivation -
Knowledge factors: - Tacit & Explicit knowledge - Fast changing rate - Peer
review
Technology factors: - Easy usability - Fast access - Infinite reach,
multilingual - Flexible structure - Safe
All these factors play together to accomplish the goal of succesful
knowledge creation and knowledge sharing.
See here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Success_factors
Comments, feedback and own ideas are very welcome!
Thank you very much in advance for your time,
Hagen