Paper>>The Visual Side of Wikipedia

The name ?Wikipedia? seems inescapably associated with terms such as: collaboration, volunteers, reliability, vandalism, edit-war, and open-source. Hardly anyone would think about words such as ?images,? ?maps,? ?diagrams,? ?illustrations? as also being related to Wikipedia. This paper presents the burgeoning visual side of the online encyclopedia. By describing the findings from a survey conducted with image contributors to Wikipedia, the paper reveals the main differences in collaborating around images as opposed to text. The results reveal that, even though image editing is more of an insolated activity, somewhat shielded from vandalism, the sense of community is one of the most important motivations for image contributors. By understanding how contributors are appropriating text-oriented wiki technology to support collective editing around visual materials, this paper reveals both the potential and the limitations of wikis in the realm of visual collaboration.

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