Sorin Adam Matei
Analysis, research, maps, and essays from Sorin Adam Matei.
Despite the fact that diverse and equal participation of members is considered to be the essence of true online communities, no compelling index has been proposed to measure the degree of diversity in terms of contributions of content to online social environments.…
Wikipedia has more than 200 versions (including one in Klingon). Looking at the top 500 pages, can we find any similarities? Are there any differences? How can these differences be explained? Domas Mituzas has published some server log data provided by Wikipedia…
My attempts to reject Wikipedia have failed just as this clip from All That Jazz predicted. [youtube]HbLSGYd-Ohc[/youtube] Anger Denial Bargain Depression Acceptance The conclusion of my travails is summarized in this Wikiway document.
How do you convert a MediaWiki xml dump (using Special:Export) into a human readable file? First, I expected to find a simple, Microsoft Word import filter. What I initially found, namely Wandora, was interesting enough, but it only gave me repeated headaches,…
We’ve known for about half a decade, if not more, that the Internet allows deep and wide collaboration. We have tried to apply this new tool to academic research, open software development, creating business alliances, reinventing retail and, why not, sharing music…
Google is testing a new Web service intended to become a repository of knowledge from experts on various topics, one that could turn into a competitor to Wikipedia and other sites. If it attracts a following, the service could accelerate Google’s transformation…
What does CIA call Wikipedia? Intellipedia. What does CIA call MySpace? ASpace. What does CIA call delicious? We don’t know yet, but it exists. For sure. CIA has embraced social techologies in a big way, says Financial Times ”Earlier this year, the CIA…
This site, a little bit too baroque and eclectic to figure out at first sight, is trying to deal with the touchy issue of the social affordances of wiki sites. The issues are important, the answers pending. CommunityWiki: WikiAffordances
An educator’s perspective Students love Wikipedia. Convenience and deadlines remembered at the last minute conspire with immense success in making undergraduate students avid consumers of web content. Professors fight their pupils’ addiction with stern grading policies bolded, underlined or italicized in the…
An update to the most accessed pages on Wikipedia. Adolf Hitler is now running head to head with Lisa Nowak, the astronaut in dipers, and the eternal adolescent fascination with self-satisfaction… At the top dominates Anna Nicole Smith (aka Vicki Lynn Hogan),…
Saturday, November 18, 2006 I’m going to say something controversial. I know, I know. The internet is for free speech. It is the last remnant of the American sixties counterculture. It’s about self-expression and information sharing. So why do I think it’s…
Larry Sanger defines a new paradigm for Web 2.0. Why Make Room for Experts in Web 2.0 There’s a bit of conventional wisdom about Web 2.0 that is wrong. According to this conventional wisdom, Web 2.0 involves bringing the power of publishing…
We’ve mentioned a Stephen Colbert and his clashes with Wikipedia a few times in class. As a result of repeated mentions on his show several articles on Wikipedia have been restricted to editing as a result of references on his show (for…
In reading the pieces on Wikipedia I was struck by a paradox that I call Darwinian Equality. It seems that one of the fundamental assumptions of Wikipedia is that the best will rise to the top – in a survival of the…
Thinking about the concept of group-mind in class today, made me think about Wikipedia – which is founded in part on the idea that one can gather knowledge from the many rather than being limited to a few individuals as sources of…
In the media hubbub that seems to surround Wikipedia nowadays (have you see the Atlantic Monthly piece, yet?), the Onion chimes in…. Wikipedia Celebrates 750 Years Of American Independence | The Onion – America’s Finest News Source Wikipedia Celebrates 750 Years Of…
Larry Sanger wrote a very thoughtful article about the meaning of the wiki movment… I will comment on it in a few days…. Constructing the Digital Universe » Blog Archive » The New Politics of Knowledge The New Politics of Knowledge July…
Wikipedia gets the bridal suited at The New Yorker. Full feature article sometime smarmy, sometime fliratious-congratulatory about Wikipedia’s so-so reliability and great potential.” The article touches the ideas, so close to my heart, that although Wikipedia in essence is an exercise in…
A surprising wake up call coming from the digerati camp. The “emergentist” party, which claimed that the best the net has to offer will come out of undirected, “random” interactions of the many (see wikipedia…) has gone too far. Now, according to…
Larry Sanger, the first chief editor of Wikipedia and considered by many to be a co-founder of the popular website together with James Wales, its current leader, will give a talk today at Purdue on The Digital Universe — What would the…
Giant website gobbler Google is on a rampage. The latest member of the collective is Writely… Writely – The Web Word Processor The Web Word Processor …that’s now part of Google. · Share documents instantly & collaborate real-time. Pick exactly who can…