The “power law distribution” or “long tail” phenomenon, as seen in behavior online on Wikipedia, suggests that the concept of an average user of Wikipedia is meaningless. Support your answer: how do you think a local, “JMU only” version of the Wikipedia would compare to the worldwide version? Would it be very similar? Higher quality? Less quality? Why?
I think a ‘JMU only’ version of Wikipedia would create a niche. The online community would be relatively small, not globally known. The site’s main users would be current students. The wiki would consist of courses, community activities, student organizations, businesses, and alumni information. The wiki would increase in size each year, but as new users gain access some users would stop following. There would be a limited number of users who actually update the site’s information. The overall quality of the site would be similar to what is found on Wikipedia. The users are educated, and would know what information is important to the community at large. I actually think the site’s interface could be higher quality. Overall, a JMU Wikipedia would only be useful for those attending the university, university alumni, and prospective employers.
"I Pledge" - KES
I think you are viewing it as a community wiki, but I meant for you to imagine a "wikipedia," meaning JMU's own online encyclopedia.
ReplyDeleteFirst - how would it be created? By profs? or students?
Who would use it - since the wikipedia or encyclopedia isn't really good for doing academic research, would it take off?
Or might it be a tool that everyone has to use - like a blog - to help with coursework?
It'd be an interesting experiment.