Common Knowledge?: An Ethnography of Wikipedia

by Dariusz Jemielniak

With an emphasis on peer–produced content and collaboration, Wikipedia exemplifies a departure from traditional management and organizational models. This iconic "project" has been variously characterized as a hive mind and an information revolution, attracting millions of new users even as it has been denigrated as anarchic and plagued by misinformation. Have Wikipedia's structure and inner workings promoted its astonishing growth and enduring public relevance? In Common Knowledge? , Dariusz Jemielniak draws on his academic expertise and years of active participation within the Wikipedia community to take readers inside the site, illuminating how it functions and deconstructing its distinctive organization. Against a backdrop of misconceptions about its governance, authenticity, and accessibility, Jemielniak delivers the first ethnography of Wikipedia, revealing that it is not entirely at the mercy of the instead, it balances open access and power with a unique bureaucracy that takes a page from traditional organizational forms. Along the way, Jemielniak incorporates fascinating cases that highlight the tug of war among the participants as they forge ahead in this pioneering environment.

Genres: Nonfiction, Anthropology

312 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Dariusz Jemielniak is Professor of Management at Kozminski University, Poland, where he heads the Management in Networked and Digital Societies Department, and the author of Common Knowledge?. He was a Fellow and Faculty Associate at the Berkman-Klein Center for Internet Studies at Harvard University from 2015 to 2018.

Reviews

[Tomasz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Autor wie co pisze - wszakże sam korzysta z Projektu regularnie. Jako że sam dodaję swoją cegiełkę do tej Sumy Wiedzy dla Dobra Wspólnego, mogę potwierdzić, że treść tej książki jest zgodna z prawdą. Autor jak Wikipedysta nie każe wierzyć na słowo, zachęca do weryfikacji faktów, które podaje.
Polecam każdemu, kto chce poznać fenomen Encyklopedii.

[Sashi Manek · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very informative and well-researched book from a member of the board of trustees of the WMF: had Jemielniak not himself given his own book a 5, I probably would have given it a 4 as it is well-written and more thorough than one would expect from someone with a clear conflict of interest. There is even some treatment of the psychological underside of the project (though not so much detail on the addicts, the violence, the house POV). There's only one passing and somewhat dismissive mention of Wikipedia Review, no mention of Wikipediocracy, and no mention of Encyclopedia Dramatica and the people driven to doxxing those who (in their view) abuse their administrative powers.

[Shyamal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential reading on the history and evolution of the Wikipedia (with insights on internet communities and behavior), its editing community, and the tensions between them, the system developers and the formal organization behind it. Should be good reading for anyone examining online communities, forms of governance, power, democracy etc.

[amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Be sure to read the appendix with research methods!

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this although it is, in my opinion, flawed. It is not the easiest read because the writing is very academic and it was a little all over the place in its point. I didn't find it to be overly cohesive but I did find some of the isolated stories useful. I definitely appreciated learning about the history and evolution of the Wikipedia project and also considering the organizational approaches and how they map to non-virtual organizations. A very interesting study and worth a look if you are interested in organizational theory and concepts like consensus.

[Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating peek into the inner workings of Wikipedia, how it has gotten to where it currently is and what problems will get worse in the future. Explores interesting cultural problems in a uniquely structured anti establishment community.