Understanding wikis and Wikipedia

In 2021, I published my book „Wikis und die Wikipedia verstehen. Eine Einführung“, in German. Following the wish of wiki friends, I have translated at least some sections to English. Please enjoy „Understanding wikis and Wikipedia. An introduction“, and feel free to contact me.

See here more about me in English.

Table of content

For whom and for what this book?
A General
- A.1 By way of introduction
  - A.1.1 An overview of the Wiki model
  - A.1.2 On the wikis discussed here
  - A.1.3 Technical, social, and cultural dimensions
  - A.1.4 Scientific research
- A.2 Wikis as media
  - A.2.1 Social media
  - A.2.2 Nature and characteristics of wikis
  - A.2.3 Definition
  - A.2.4 Wiki types
  - A.2.5 Orientation
- A.3 General aspects
  - A.3.1 Identity, continuity and connectedness.
  - A.3.2 Openness and closedness
  - A.3.3 Wiki cycles
  - A.3.4 Chronological aspects
  - A.3.5 Excursus: The development of Wikipedia
  - A.3.6 A wiki’s name
- A.4 Wiki as a technical medium
  - A.4.1 MediaWiki software
  - A.4.2 User account
  - A.4.3 Page
  - A.4.4 Editing
  - A.4.5 Code and types of edits
  - A.4.6 Communication
- A.5 Summary
B Actors
- B.1 Owners
  - B.1.1 Owner and ownership
  - B.1.2 Goals and revenue models
  - B.1.3 Excursus: wiki founders
  - B.1.4 Tasks and duties
  - B.1.5 Environment
  - B.1.6 Excursus: The Movement for Free Content
  - B.2 Recipients
  - B.2.1 Audience and target groups
  - B.2.2 Appeal of the Wiki
  - B.2.3 Importance of recipients for the Wiki
  - B.2.4 Self-perception as pure recipients
  - B.3 modificients
  - B.3.1 Adoption of the modificient role
  - B.3.2 Intrinsic motivation
  - B.3.3 Extrinsic motivation
  - B.3.4 Wiki identity
  - B.3.5 Internal and external status
  - B.3.6 Competencies
  - B.3.7 Acquisition of competencies
  - B.3.8 Minority
  - B.3.9 Excursus: Low-threshold forms of participation
  - B.4 Community
  - B.4.1 Community building
  - B.4.2 Scales
  - B.4.3 Internal organization
  - B.4.4 Social structure and diversity
  - B.4.5 Gender Gap
  - B.4.6 Functional roles
  - B.4.7 Activities in the wiki
  - B.4.8 Wiki culture
- B.5 Summary
C Law and rules
- C.1 Setting rules
  - C.1.1 National law
  - C.1.2 Wiki rules of the owner
  - C.1.3 Wiki rules of the modificients
  - C.1.4 Adapted rules
  - C.1.5 Codification
- C.2 Handling
  - C.2.1 Responsibility
  - C.2.2 Sanctions
  - C.2.3 Social sanctions
  - C.2.4 Vigilante sanctions
  - C.2.5 Harassment
  - C.2.6 Misappropriations
  - C.2.7 Advertising
  - C.2.8 Vandalism and fakes
- C.3 Copyright
  - C.3.1 Copyright and wikis
  - C.3.2 The concept of free content
  - C.3.3 Hybrid concepts and third-party content
  - C.3.4 Copyright infringement and plagiarism
  - C.3.5 Excursus: Free and Open
- C.4 Summary
D Content
- D.1 World, modificients, Content
  - D.1.1 Knowledge
  - D.1.2 Origin of content
  - D.1.3 World and sources
  - D.1.4 Primary sources
  - D.1.5 Wiki authorship and wiki voice
  - D.1.6 Evaluation
  - D.1.7 Presentational and discursive content
- D.2 Structure
  - D.2.1 Main content and subsidiary content
  - D.2.2 Macrostructure
  - D.2.3 Segmentation
  - D.2.4 The unicality of content
  - D.2.5 Hypertext and mesostructure
  - D.2.6 Microstructure
- D.3 Content inclusion and quality
  - D.3.1 Excursus: Encyclopedia
  - D.3.2 Framework
  - D.3.3 Relevance
  - D.3.4 Quality criteria
  - D.3.5 Timeliness
  - D.3.6 Dynamic and static contents
  - D.3.7 Neutrality
  - D.3.8 Multimodality
  - D.3.9 Excursus: Wikis and politics
- D.4 Multilingualism
  - D.4.1 Social dimension
  - D.4.2 Cultural dimension
  - D.4.3 Technical dimension
  - D.4.4 Excursus: Outside help
- D.5 Summary
E Collaboration
- E.1 Community and content
  - E.1.1 Crowd and crowdsourcing
  - E.1.2 Wisdom of the many
  - E.1.3 Collaboration and content
  - E.1.4 Collaborative authorship
  - E.1.5 Feelings of ownership and prohibition of ownership
  - E.1.6 Competition between modificients
- E.2 Preconditions and forms
  - E.2.1 Acts of writing
  - E.2.2 Forms of collaboration
  - E.2.3 Stages of collaboration
  - E.2.4 Conflicts and their resolution
  - E.2.5 Collaboration limitation
  - E.2.6 Wiki maxims
- E.3 Summary
F Concluding remarks
Glossary
Bibliography
Online resources
Tables
Figures
Abbreviations