Knowledge Creation and Distribution in Online Groups
Summary
A substantial amount of socially-distributed cognitive work takes place in online groups. This project, which is done in collaboration with colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Minnesota, seeks to clarify factors that affect the success of online groups specializing in knowledge creation and distribution. Online groups provide an attractive research environment, because members’ behavior is directly observable and can be captured, quantified, and analyzed using computer tools. Our initial studies, involving the online-encyclopedia Wikipedia, are investigating the practices that Wiki projects use in recruiting and socializing new members. In addition, we are initiating studies on how conflict (e.g., reverting others’ edits) affects the quality of Wiki pages.
People
