On Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 11:43 AM, Gerard Meijssen gerard.meijssen@gmail.com wrote:
Hoi. Wikipedia should be more like a social network. It provides us with the opportunity to reach out to people when we want to crowd source some activity. We have a problem in retaining people particular newbies. When we show a social side to our work on open content (not only encyclopaedic content) we stand a better chance we are likely to do better. Thanks, GerardM
That's an interesting theory. Wikipedia is sort of the epitome of a social enterprise, and all of the good and the bad in the project can be traced to its social nature. Trying to make it more like a "social network" can only be interpreted as making it more like some other social network, perhaps by integrating purely social mechanisms a la Facebook. Of course, that could either help or hinder, with no way to know for sure in advance; perhaps encouraging more social interaction would exacerbate and personalize the disputes and conflicts that drive people away.