Accept, decline, postpone: How newcomer productivity is reduced in English Wikipedia by pre-publication review

Jodi Schneider, Aaron Halfaker, Bluma S. Gelley

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Wikipedia needs to attract and retain newcomers while also increasing the quality of its content. Yet new Wikipedia users are disproportionately affected by the quality assurance mechanisms designed to thwart spammers and promoters. English Wikipedia's Articles for Creation provides a protected space for drafting new articles, which are reviewed against minimum quality guidelines before they are published. In this study we explore how this drafting process has affected the productivity of newcomers in Wikipedia. Using a mixed qualitative and quantitative approach, we show how the process's pre-publication review, which is intended to improve the success of newcomers, in fact decreases newcomer productivity in English Wikipedia and offer recommendations for system designers.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of the 10th International Symposium on Open Collaboration, OpenSym 2014
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
PagesF3
ISBN (Electronic)9781450330169
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014
Externally publishedYes
Event10th International Symposium on Open Collaboration, OpenSym 2014 - Berlin, Germany
Duration: Aug 27 2014Aug 29 2014

Publication series

NameProceedings of the 10th International Symposium on Open Collaboration, OpenSym 2014

Other

Other10th International Symposium on Open Collaboration, OpenSym 2014
Country/TerritoryGermany
CityBerlin
Period8/27/148/29/14

Keywords

  • Articles for Creation
  • Newcomers
  • Pre-publication review
  • Quality control
  • Wikipedia

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Software

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