THE ROLE OF WIKI TECHNOLOGY AND ALTRUISM IN COLLABORATIVE KNOWLEDGE CREATION

Collaborative knowledge creation is presently being reshaped by the use of Web 2.0 technologies such as wikis. Wikipedia, arguably the most successful application of wiki technology, demonstrates the feasibility and success of this form of collaborative knowledge creation (in a broad sense) within self-organizing, open access community. The study seeks to understand the success of the public wiki model, with Wikipedia as the test case, assessing both technology and participant motivations. The study finds that, contrary to the motivation in open source software development, altruism is a prevalent driver for participation, although mixed motives clearly exist. In particular, while participants have both individualistic and collaborative motives, collaborative (altruistic) motives dominate. The success of the collaboration model embedded in Wikipedia thus appears to be related to wiki technology and the "wiki way" (i.e., social norms) of collaboration.