Class14notes

From English 194 Wiki Site

Preliminary Class Business

• Status of editing assignment (see list of assigned editors on Shared Collaboration space page)
• Assignment for Thursday's class: study our class site and take notes on tasks that need to be done (to complete, correct, or improve the site)

Discussion of the Wikipedia Controversy

• Overall Topic: Limitations or Problems of Collaborative Creation:
  • Intellectual Property laws
  • [Other limitations/problems?]

• The Wikipedia Controversy:

• Two Case Studies in the Wikipedia Controversy
  • The John Seigenthaler incident:
    • Wikipedia article on "John Seigenthaler Sr. Wikipedia biography controversy"
  • The Adam Curry incident:
    • From the Wikipedia article on Adam Curry
    • Curry's edits of the Wikipedia "Podcasting" article
  • (Section 230 of the Federal Communications Decency Act of 1996)

• The Tip of the Iceberg?
  • Wikipedia page on Vandalism
  • Wikipedia article on "List of Pages Protected Against Re-Creation"
  • Wikipedia List of Protected Pages Some interesting types of problems:
    • Edit warring
    • Revert wars
    • External link wars
    • Harassment of other users
    • Nov-valid IP address edits
    • Self-interested or white-wash editing
    • Copyright violations
    • Vandalism that happens faster than reverts (resulting in reverts to vandalized versions of article)
    • Image blanking
    • Controversial images

• "What is Wrong With This Picture?"
  • What are the underlying or structural reasons for the Wikipedia controversy (and for problems in collaboration in general)?
    • Social?
    • Political?
    • Economic?
    • Institutional?
    • Communicational/technological?

Cf., Julian Dibbell, "A Rape in Cyberspace: How an Evil Clown, a Haitian Trickster Spirit, Two Wizards, and a Cast of Dozens Turned a Database Into a Society" (December 23, 1993)