Pitt Business e-newsletter Issue 11, September 2008
Katz PhD Candidate Presents Wikipedia Policy Research in Florence, Italy
Florence, Italy, a home to many great artists and scientists and the birthplace of the Renaissance, was a fitting location for the CHI 2008 conference. The conference, held April 5-10, focused on the balance between art, science, design and research, practical motivation, and the process that leads the way to innovative excellence. It dealt with the rapid evolution of the field of human-computer interaction, the balance between individuals and groups, collocated and remote, stationary and mobile, in both local and global communities. Katz PhD candidate in Information Systems Jacqueline Pike was in Florence at CHI 2008 to present a research paper on policies in Wikipedia called Don't Look Now, But We've Created a Bureaucracy: The Nature and Roles of Policies and Rules in Wikipedia. Pike coauthored the paper with Katz Associate Professor Brian Butler and Elisabeth Joyce of Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.
The paper focuses on the various roles that policies play in Wikipedia, a subject the research team continues to study. Concepts like policies and rules are often not associated with Wikipedia because many view Wikipedia as emergent, complex, messy, informal, popularly uncontrolled, and nonorganizational. For example, one of the founding principles of Wikipedia is "Ignore all rules," which states that if a rule inhibits developing Wikipedia, the user should simply ignore it. However, if one goes beyond reading the article pages, one will find a complex structure of policies and rules that govern Wikipedia. With dozens of official policies, hundreds of rules, and more of each continuing to emerge, Wikipedia is well on its way to looking like a bureaucracy. It is important to examine this complex structure of policies and rules in order to better understand the nature and role they play in Wikipedia and what they can teach wiki developers and administrators about policy formation and maintenance.
The conference was held in Fortezza da Basso, a renovated fortress in Florence that provided an interesting backdrop for Pike's research. She stayed in a nearby hostel that provided a walking tour of the city. Pike's tour guide provided unique facts about the city in addition to discussing Florence's well known and beautiful Renaissance art and architecture. The influence of the Medici family, a powerful Florentine family from the 13th to 17th centuries, could be seen throughout the city. The Medici family—whose rule molded the city of Florence into what it is today—is often applauded for their contributions to the city and it was interesting for Pike to ponder how the policies and rules in Wikipedia could have a similar effect on the Wikipedia landscape.
