Determinants of wikipedia quality: the roles of global and local contribution inequality

  • Authors:

  • Ofer Arazy;Oded Nov

  • Affiliations:

  • University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada;Polytechnic Institute, New York, NY, USA

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 2010 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work
  • Year:
  • 2010

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Abstract

The success of Wikipedia and the relative high quality of its articles seem to contradict conventional wisdom. Recent studies have begun shedding light on the processes contributing to Wikipedia's success, highlighting the role of coordination and contribution inequality. In this study, we expand on these works in two ways. First, we make a distinction between global (Wikipedia-wide) and local (article-specific) inequality and investigate both constructs. Second, we explore both direct and indirect effects of these inequalities, exposing the intricate relationships between global inequality, local inequality, coordination, and article quality. We tested our hypotheses on a sample of a Wikipedia articles using structural equation modeling and found that global inequality exerts significant positive impact on article quality, while the effect of local inequality is indirect and is mediated by coordination