Wikipedia and wikis

Abstract

Wikis, including the encyclopedia Wikipedia, represent a core platform for peer production, where collaborators can modify and add content in a decentralized manner. By analyzing Wikipedia as the most successful wiki project, this article sheds light on the main design principles, history, and affordances of wikis. After describing wikis’ creation in the context of open source communities and their technological particularities, the article delves into Wikipedia’s background, evolution, and underlying policies and guidelines. It then discusses the role of Wikipedia contributors, analyzing tensions between expert and amateur editors, human and bot contributors, as well as between open licenses and copyrighted content. Drawing attention to the embeddedness of Wikipedia in the contemporary media ecology, the article further examines tensions stemming from Wikipedia’s relationship with search engines and other online platforms. The article concludes by emphasizing the tensions emerging from Wikipedia’s peer-production model. – AI-generated abstract.