The Wikipedia Revolution
Encyclopedia
The Wikipedia Revolution: How A Bunch of Nobodies Created The World's Greatest Encyclopedia is a 2009 history book by new media
researcher and writer Andrew Lih
.
At the time of its publication it was "the only narrative account" of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia
(in English). It covers the period from Wikipedia's founding in early 2000 up to early 2008. Written as a popular history
, the text ranges from short biographies of Jimmy Wales
, Larry Sanger
and Ward Cunningham
, to brief accounts of infamous events in Wikipedia's history such as the Essjay controversy
and the Wikipedia biography controversy
.
Lih describes the importance of early influences on Wikipedia including Usenet
, Hypercard
, Slashdot
and MeatballWiki
. He also explores the cultural differences found within international sister texts such as the German Wikipedia, the Chinese Wikipedia, and the Japanese Wikipedia.
There is a foreword by Jimmy Wales, and an afterword partially created by volunteers through an on-line Wiki detailing the problems and opportunities of Wikipedia's future.
The UK edition, published by Aurum Press Ltd, contains an additional section on the Virgin Killer Controversy of December 2008.
New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
researcher and writer Andrew Lih
Andrew Lih
Andrew Lih is a new media researcher, consultant and writer, as well as a noted authority on both Wikipedia and internet censorship in the People's Republic of China. He is currently a visiting professor at the University of Southern California....
.
At the time of its publication it was "the only narrative account" of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
(in English). It covers the period from Wikipedia's founding in early 2000 up to early 2008. Written as a popular history
Popular history
Popular history is a broad and somewhat ill-defined genre of historiography that takes a popular approach, aims at a wide readership, and usually emphasizes narrative, personality and vivid detail over scholarly analysis...
, the text ranges from short biographies of Jimmy Wales
Jimmy Wales
Jimmy Donal "Jimbo" Wales is an American Internet entrepreneur best known as a co-founder and promoter of the online non-profit encyclopedia Wikipedia and the Wikia company....
, Larry Sanger
Larry Sanger
Lawrence Mark "Larry" Sanger is an American philosopher, co-founder of Wikipedia, and the founder of Citizendium....
and Ward Cunningham
Ward Cunningham
Howard G. "Ward" Cunningham is an American computer programmer who developed the first wiki. A pioneer in both design patterns and Extreme Programming, he started programming the software WikiWikiWeb in 1994 and installed it on the website of his software consultancy, Cunningham & Cunningham , on...
, to brief accounts of infamous events in Wikipedia's history such as the Essjay controversy
Essjay controversy
The Essjay controversy was an incident concerning a prominent Wikipedia participant and salaried Wikia employee, known by the username Essjay, who later identified himself as Ryan Jordan. Jordan held trusted volunteer positions within Wikipedia known as administrator, bureaucrat, arbitrator and...
and the Wikipedia biography controversy
Wikipedia biography controversy
The Wikipedia biography controversy, sometimes called the Seigenthaler incident, was a series of events that began in May 2005 with the anonymous posting of a hoax article in the online encyclopedia Wikipedia about John Seigenthaler, a well-known American journalist. The article falsely stated that...
.
Lih describes the importance of early influences on Wikipedia including Usenet
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
, Hypercard
HyperCard
HyperCard is an application program created by Bill Atkinson for Apple Computer, Inc. that was among the first successful hypermedia systems before the World Wide Web. It combines database capabilities with a graphical, flexible, user-modifiable interface. HyperCard also features HyperTalk, written...
, Slashdot
Slashdot
Slashdot is a technology-related news website owned by Geeknet, Inc. The site, which bills itself as "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters", features user-submitted and ‑evaluated current affairs news stories about science- and technology-related topics. Each story has a comments section...
and MeatballWiki
MeatballWiki
MeatballWiki is a wiki dedicated to online communities, network culture, and hypermedia.Founded in 2000, its original goal was to focus on collaborative hypermedia, but current topics range from intellectual property to cyberpunk to the confusion of URIs....
. He also explores the cultural differences found within international sister texts such as the German Wikipedia, the Chinese Wikipedia, and the Japanese Wikipedia.
There is a foreword by Jimmy Wales, and an afterword partially created by volunteers through an on-line Wiki detailing the problems and opportunities of Wikipedia's future.
The UK edition, published by Aurum Press Ltd, contains an additional section on the Virgin Killer Controversy of December 2008.
Publication
- Andrew LihAndrew LihAndrew Lih is a new media researcher, consultant and writer, as well as a noted authority on both Wikipedia and internet censorship in the People's Republic of China. He is currently a visiting professor at the University of Southern California....
. The Wikipedia Revolution: How A Bunch of Nobodies Created The World's Greatest Encyclopedia. HyperionHyperion (publisher)Hyperion Books is a general-interest book publishing part of the Disney-ABC Television Group, a division of The Walt Disney Company, established in 1991. Hyperion publishes general-interest fiction and non-fiction books for adults under the following imprints: ABC Daytime Press, ESPN Books,...
, March 17, 2009. ISBN 978-1401303716 - Andrew LihAndrew LihAndrew Lih is a new media researcher, consultant and writer, as well as a noted authority on both Wikipedia and internet censorship in the People's Republic of China. He is currently a visiting professor at the University of Southern California....
. The Wikipedia Revolution: How A Bunch of Nobodies Created The World's Greatest Encyclopedia. AurumAurum PressAurum Press is an independent English publishing house located in London. It was founded in 1976. Aurum concentrates on non-fiction titles and publishes approximately 75 new books every year. One of its titles in 2009 will be the biography of Neville Staple, vocalist in The Specials, Fun Boy...
, March 19, 2009. ISBN 978-1845134730
External links
, official website- "Wikipedia: Exploring Fact City", Noam Cohen, New York Times, March 28, 2009
- "Wikipedia's Old-Fashioned Revolution", L. Gordon CrovitzL. Gordon CrovitzLouis Gordon Crovitz is an American media executive and advisor to media and technology companies. He is a former publisher of The Wall Street Journal who also served as executive vice-president of Dow Jones and launched the company's Consumer Media Group, which under his leadership integrated the...
, The Wall Street Journal, April 6, 2009 - "The Wikipedia Revolution: How a Bunch of Nobodies Created the World's Greatest Encyclopedia", Book TVBook TVBook TV is the name given to weekend programming on the American cable network C-SPAN2 airing from 8 a.m. Eastern Time Saturday morning to 8 a.m. Eastern Time Monday morning each week. The 48 hour block of programming is focused on non-fiction books and authors, featuring programs in the format of...
, C-SpanC-SPANC-SPAN , an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming via its three television channels , one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming...
, ID: 285561-1, 25 March 2009 - "Like Boiling a Frog", review by David RuncimanDavid RuncimanThe Hon. David Walter Runciman is a British political scientist who teaches political theory at Cambridge University and is a fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he was educated following Eton College....
in The London Review of Books, May 28, 2009