Good Faith Collaboration: The Culture of Wikipedia (History and Foundations of Information Science)
"[A] fascinating revelation about how Wikipedia is just one of several attempts at creating a universal encyclopedia." --Jeff Kirchoff,Rhizomes"Beyond doubt this is a text that captures the spirit of the Wikipedia enterprise; it is definitely an excellent read and an accomplished exercise of transparency." -- José-Carlos Redondo-Olmedilla,The Information Society"[I] recommend it to the readers as not only serious, but also humorous and entertaining reading, well written and informative to many social and internet scholars." --Professor Elena Maceviciute,Information Research"For students of social phenomena, Reagle's history is a fascinating read, especially in light of Wikileaks...for anyone interested in starting a wiki, his descriptions of problems and solutions are invaluable." --Bernice Glenn,Computing Reviews"Good Faith Collaboration sheds some much-needed light on one of the most influential resources available today. Joseph Reagle accurately captures the internal collaborative climate of 'good faith' in Wikipedia, and provides an excellent history of its progenitors like Nupedia." --Jimmy Wales, Founder of Wikipedia"Joseph Reagle is one of a very few people who are both deeply engaged participants in online community and first-rate scholars of it. In Good Faith Collaboration he provides the best explanation to date of how a communally created encyclopedia went from 'crazy idea' to the most important reference work in the English language in less than ten years, and what Wikipedia's massive global experiment in its collaborative culture means for the future of ours." --Clay Shirky, NYU, author ofHere Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations"Ultimately, Reagle offers a compelling case that Wikipedia's most fascinating and unprecedented aspect isn't the encyclopedia itself -- rather, it's the collaborative culture that underpins it: brawling, self-reflexive, funny, serious, and full-tilt committed to the project, even if it means setting aside personal differences. Reagle's position as a scholar and a member of the community makes him uniquely situated to describe this culture." --Cory Doctorow,boingboing"Joseph Reagle's account of what makes Wikipedia tick debunks the vision of a shining Alexandria gliding toward free and perfect knowledge and replaces it with something far more awe-inspiring: a humane, and human, enterprise that with each fitful back-and-forth elicits the best from those it draws in. In an era of polemic and cheap shots that some attribute largely to the Internet's influence, he shows how even those of wildly varying backgrounds who disagree intensely can see themselves as embarked on a common, ennobling mission grounded in respect and reason." --Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School and Kennedy School, Professor of Computer Science, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and author ofThe Future of the Internet -- And How to Stop It"Wikipedia deserves to have its story intelligently told, and Joseph Reagle has done exactly that. Good Faith Collaboration is smart, accessible, and astutely observed. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to better understand how Wikipedia works, and why it matters." --Sue Gardner, Executive Director, Wikimedia Foundation