[Air-l] naturally occuring Wiki conflicts

[Barry Wellman]

For the heck of it, I've been watching 30-50 Wikipedia sites for the past
6 months. There are many conflicts on there, most of which get resolved.

To find them, pick conflict-filled entries. Here are some I've noticed:
Iran, Conrad Black, Jimmy Wales, Larry Sanger, Stephane Dion, Shootings at
Kent State, social network (where people keep wanting to sell their
software); Anna Nicole Smith.

Yup, I have eclectic tastes, plus to some extent I've been prone to
watching sites where the action is. (This is a totally convenience
sample.)

I'm not mounting any project on this yet, but all the other studies of
Wikip (in my limited experience) that I know about are macro-statistical
ones. It's pretty easy to see patterns of cooperation and conflict on a
micro level -- go for it.

 Barry Wellman
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  Barry Wellman   S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology   NetLab Director
  Centre for Urban & Community Studies          University of Toronto
  455 Spadina Avenue    Toronto Canada M5S 2G8    fax:+1-416-978-7162
  wellman at chass.utoronto.ca  http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman
        for fun: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php
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