Common Knowledge: An Ethnography of Wikipedia: Dariusz Jemielniak's book is the newest about Wikipedia, published in Poland in 2013 and with an English edition forthcoming in 2014.
, as this is the author's professional area of expertise, and as such, an extensive treatment of topics such as Wikipedia's governance and culture.
Jemielniak starts his work dispelling some myths about the
Cult of the Amateur. It is here that we first see the author's dedication to the project; he is an experienced Wikipedian (User:Pundit), with quite a few hats, including the administrator and bureaucrat flags on the Polish Wikipedia. This is one of the main factors distinguishing this work from most of the existing treatments of Wikipedia. While most of the small group of authors who published books about Wikipedia are also Wikipedians, and some of them (such as John Broughton of Wikipedia – The Missing Manual or Andrew Dalby of The World and Wikipedia fame) sport a longer career with a higher edit count, Jemielniak is both the first administrator in that group, and the first writer to focus on more than just the English Wikipedia (a major theme of his work is a comparative analysis of the English and Polish Wikipedia
). As such, this work offers a number of unique insights, and is a valuable companion to the existing literature on Wikipedia.
Following the brief introduction, the book covers Wikipedia history, culture, governance and policies, a chapter that is required for the general public, but will contain few revelations for readers of the Signpost or the Wikimedia Research Newsletter, who are likely quite familiar with issues such as the
covered in this chapter. That said, a number of incidents related to Polish Wikipedia may be of interest, as Jemielniak's discussion of them may likely be the first time they are mentioned in an English language publication. In particular, an incident in which Jemielniak himself influenced the Polish Wikipedia's Manual of Style, by arranging to have an expert issue a language opinion, which was then used as a reliable source, is quite interesting. Sadly, although Jemielniak is usually very good with providing links to various pages, this particular incident, discussed on pages 43 and 44 of the Polish edition, is not supported by any source within the book.
Jemielniak, while clearly an invested member of the Wikipedia community supportive of the project's mission, is not beyond criticizing a number of Wikipedia's elements. His constructive if critical remarks begin in force with the book's second chapter, dedicated to hierarchy and roles. Early on, he points to the question of editors' equality, noting that Wikipedians are hardly equal, with the poor treatment of IP editors being most visible. The inequality does not end there, with the number of edits, awards, and electable roles determining the position and status of more advanced editors. In a dedicated subchapter he points to the inefficiency of the
"real cabal". In this, his research fits into the wider paradigm of scholarly literature concerned with social inequality
, and with its common conclusion that inequality is the major cause of the vast majority of problems in human society.
In a subsequent chapter, discussing the conflict resolution, Jemielniak notes that conflicts are at least as common as collaboration, and offers an insightful analysis of the
"Gdanzig vote". Outside a number of observations about this particular, peculiar moment in Wikipedia history, he offers a number of broader observations, such as that despite Wikipedia:Consensus claim to the contrary, established consensus is nearly impossible to change. Organizations (and people in general) are inimical to change, and on Wikipedia experienced Wikipedians who have already discussed a topic once are rarely fond of returning to it, thus they are likely to torpedo any attempt to reignite a discussion. This in effect disfranchises new editors of the right to change the existing status quo, and ensures that Wikipedia's bureaucratic environment continues to fossilize in the current state. Another interesting critique of the Wikipedia dispute resolution mechanism is that reaching consensus through constructive discussions, influencing others and mediating a middle ground, is often a myth: conflicts are too often won not by the most eloquent editor with the best sources, but by the most stubborn users, who outlast any opposition; he terms this a "domination model of conflict resolution" (pp. 122, 123) (in which this reviewer is reminded of this interesting wiki essay
); he also describes a "stalemate model", in which a simmering conflict continues for a long time, sapping editors' energy and producing nothing but mostly useless archives of talk page rants, going in circles. Jemielniak does not deny that friendly and constructive collaboration does occur, but he draws attention to the "hidden truth" of Wikipedia – that this ideal way is not the only way that disputes are solved around here.
Following that, Jemielniak makes an interesting observation of particular interest to researchers: that the entire topic of
echo extension
).
Later Jemielniak discusses the topics of privacy and the "
open-source
community.
The second to last chapter discusses the ever-favorite topic of Jimbo Wales, often called the
officially claiming that it is not a democracy, has numerous democratic elements, often supported by Wales, and this vision of Wikipedia governance, incompatible with leadership of a dictator, constitutional monarch, or such, significantly contributed to the marginalization of Jimbo's official influence (not to deny his extensive charismatic authority
).
The last chapter focuses on the interesting dynamics between the Wikimedia Foundation, local chapters and the community. Here, in discussing the extensive bureaucracy of this project in the final chapter, Jemielniak's work is yet another in a long chain of works which clearly points out the ridiculousness of Wikipedia's claim that
free culture
movements, as well as Wikipedia itself.
The book closes with a more theoretical discussion of whether the Wikipedia model of organization is that of freedom and liberty, or social control, and a more developed analysis of how Wikipedia is transforming our governance and knowledge creation, with an interesting analysis of why certain traditional groups (such as experts) can feel endangered by the project, and perceive it as a threat to their continued existence.
In the end, this is an excellent ethnographical and organizational analysis of the Wikipedia project, and a valuable addition to the (still tiny) library of core texts on Wikipedia.
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. . . numerous democratic elements . . . incompatible with leadership of a dictator, constitutional monarch, or such - Surely the writer meant to say