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Edit Yourself!

14. January 2011, 11:04

Initially, it was a network for scientists and specialists. Today, Wikipedia is the world's most popular knowledge platform. Knowledge to which everybody can contribute. Users of Wikipedia rely on human swarm intelligence. The term "swarm intelligence" describes the behaviour of organisms interacting with one another following simple rules. It was first used by computer scientists in the context of cellular robotic systems. Together, the whole population forms a "super organism" which continues to optimize its behaviour. Does Wikipedia live up to the expectations?

Marking its tenth anniversary, the qulity of Wikipedia knowledge is still disputed. According to the theory of swarm intelligence, the infinite number of users and contributors will eliminate all errors appearing in Wikipedia. But, particularly corporations and personalities featured in Wikipedia battle with content that is unwelcome or simply untrue. The mechanisms of Wikipedia can be cumbersome and getting untrue content rectified can become a nightmare. Critics reproach Wikipedia with becoming an increasingly elitist circle of authors with gradually fewer new authors joining in.

Moreover, the contents on the different language versions of Wikipedia are not harmonized. The two short chapters on swarm intelligence and criticism of Wikipedia are good examples. Both feature plausible and useful content, their quality and viewpoint differ greatly though. (Links to the German versions at the end of this text)

On Wikipedia itself, the Criticism of Wikipedia is described as follows: "The major points of criticism of Wikipedia ... are the claims that the principle of being open for editing by everyone makes Wikipedia unauthoritative and unreliable, that it exhibits systemic bias, and that its group dynamics hinder its goals."

Is the "super organism" being suffocated by its own success? Or has the web-based knowledge come to a critical level of saturation? Wikipedia celebrates its tenth anniversary these days.