NORMATIVE BEHAVIOUR IN WIKIPEDIA

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of norms and rules on editor communicative behaviour in Wikipedia. Specifically, processes of micro-coordination through speech acts are examined as a basis for norm establishment, maintenance, reinforcement and effectiveness. This is pursued by analysing discussion pages taken from a sample of controversial and featured articles. The results reveal some unexpected patterns. Despite the Wikipedia community generating a large number of rules, etiquettes and guidelines, the explicit invocation of rules and/or the use of wider social norms is rare and appears to play a very small role in influencing editor behaviour. The emergent pattern of communicative exchange is not well aligned either with rules established by Wikipedia contributors or with the characteristics of a coherent community and nor is it consistent with the behaviour needed to reach agreement on controversial topics. The paper concludes by offering some tentative hypotheses as to why this may be so and outlines possible future research which may help distinguish between alternatives.

Keywords:

• Wikipedia
• social norms
• open-source
• speech act theory

Acknowledgements

This work has been supported by EMIL – EU (Sixth Framework Programme – Information Society and Technologies – Citizens and Governance in the Knowledge Based Society). EMIL Partner institutions include: National Research Council, Italy; University of Bayreuth and Universität Koblenz, Germany; University of Surrey and Manchester Metropolitan University, UK; and AITIA Inc., Hungary. We thank the partners for their contributions to the research.