Innovating Collaborative Content Creation: The Role of Altruism and Wiki Technology

TLDR

Wikipedia exemplifies a successful, openly shared collaborative writing model that is more inclusive than open‑source software development and relies on broad participation. The study aimed to investigate why Wikipedia succeeds by examining both its technology and the motivations of its contributors. The results show that altruistic motives dominate contributors’ behavior and that Wikipedia’s success is tied to its wiki technology and collaborative “wiki way.”.

Abstract

Wikipedia demonstrates the feasibility and success of an innovative form of content creation, namely openly shared, collaborative writing. This research sought to understand the success of Wikipedia as a collaborative model, considering both technology and participant motivations. The research finds that while participants have both individualistic and collaborative motives, collaborative (altruistic) motives dominate. The collaboration model differs from that of open source software development, which is less inclusive with respect to participation, and more "selfish" with respect to contributor motives. The success of the Wikipedia model appears to be related to wiki technology and the "wiki way" of collaboration