Work

Deliberation and Resolution on Wikipedia

Year: 2018

Type: article

Abstract: Resolving disputes in a timely manner is crucial for any online production group. We present an analysis of Requests for Comments (RfCs), one of the main vehicles on Wikipedia for formally resolving a policy or content dispute. We collected an exhaustive dataset of 7,316 RfCs on English Wikipedia over the course of 7 years and conducted a qualitative and quantitative analysis into what issues affect the RfC process. Our analysis was informed by 10 interviews with frequent RfC closers. We found that a major issue affecting the RfC process is the prevalence of RfCs that could have benefited from formal closure but that linger indefinitely without one, with factors including participants' interest and expertise impacting the likelihood of resolution. From these findings, we developed a model that predicts whether an RfC will go stale with 75.3% accuracy, a level that is approached as early as one week after dispute initiation.

Source: Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction

DOI: 10.1145/3274343

Authors: Jane Im, Amy X. Zhang, Christopher J. Schilling, David Karger

Institutions: University of Michigan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Wikimedia Foundation

Language: English

Topic: Wikis in Education and Collaboration

Subfield: Communication

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: Wikimedia Foundation