[Air-l] Studying Wikipedia, studying humans?

[Christopher J. Richter]

I would argue that putting the emphasis on process makes the
object/human subject dichotomy irrelevant.  Or to restate in
Giddens-esque terminology, the focus should be human practices, with the
subject and object viewed as duality rather than dualism.

Christopher J Richter, PhD
Assoc. Prof. & Chair, Communication Studies
Hollins University
P.O. Box 9652
Roanoke, VA 24020

Tel. 5403626358
Fax 5403626286
e-mail crichter at hollins.edu
www.hollins.edu


-----Original Message-----
From: air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org
[mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Jeremy Hunsinger
Sent: Wednesday, February 15, 2006 11:08 AM
To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
Subject: [Air-l] Studying Wikipedia, studying humans?

I was reading over some wikipedia policies and related things this  
morning and once again the perennial question arose... at what point  
is studying wikipedia... studying humans?  granted that wikipedia is  
much larger than the human content, with both its technical  
infrastructures and bots.  However, this wouldn't be a question for  
studying the Britannica as a 'book', though it might be a an issue in  
studying the production of the encyclopedia in situ via ethnography  
or other workplace studies methods.   So where would you mark the  
difference in wikipedia?   When are you studying an object, vs a  
human subject in wikipedia, or... is the distinction not clear enough  
to differentiate because of the interaction collapses the  
distinction?  Thoughts?

Jeremy Hunsinger
Center for Digital Discourse and Culture
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