On The Crowd-sourced Compilation Model Of Wikipedia

"Crowdsourcing",which has been widely applied in many fields of social life,is a distributed problem-solving and production model mainly based on the internet.Wikipedia is a typical example of the crowdsourced model in the compilation of lexicographical works.Taking it as an example,this dissertation comes to discuss the influence of crowdsourced compilation model on the encyclopedic compilation.Under the theoretical framework of the modern theory of lexicographic functions,this dissertation systematically analyses the distinctive features and structural status of Wikipedia.The postulate of the modern theory of lexicographic functions is that dictionaries are considered utility products that are made in order to satisfy certain human needs(Bergenholtz&Tarp 2003,2004;Tarp 2008).Based on this theory,the dissertation samples altogether 91 featured articles of well-known authors in literature and theatre,and 100 notable figures in linguistics,and then makes a comparative study with the counterparts in Encyclopedia Britannica.It is oriented to examine the fact whether the structure of Wikipedia can satisfy the users’ basic demands of information retrieval and self-education from the following three aspects:inclusion of article,article structure and retrieval system,gives the objective evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of the crowdsourced compilation model,and explores its impact on online encyclopedia compilation.In addition,the dissertation analyzes the potential prospects of the crowdsourced model in the encyclopedic compilation.Specifically,the main findings can be summarized as follows:Firstly,the process of article inclusion presents the characteristics of bottom-up,scattered inclusion and dynamic increase.The steps of article inclusion of Wikipedia are identification of the exclusive content,quick creation of the new articles,addition of the category labels and link establishment of related articles etc.On the contrary,the process of article inclusion of Encyclopedia Britannica is essentially different:frame design,the formulation of article list of individual discipline,comprehensive assessment and the formulation of article list in the whole book etc.Therefore,three distinctive features of article inclusion present under the crowd-sourced compilation model,namely,openness,diversity,and addition of the category labels.Additionally,some problems have also emerged in this process:the arbitrariness of the article inclusion and the lack of hierarchy in the category labels.Secondly,three distinctive features present in the article structure of Wikipedia under the crowdsourced compilation model:the openness and dynamics of the article contents,the diversity of structural components formatting and function,and to annotate within the article contents.Meanwhile,two problems also exist,namely,the lack of systematicness in the article structure and contents,unbalanced development of different types of articles.The causes of above problems lie in the compilation model,the compiling policy of Wikipedia and the editors’ compiling preference of articles etc.Therefore,there are two basic contradictions in the article compilation of Wikipedia:the editors and the article quality,the references or article contents.The contradictions above,to a great extent,not only restrict the future development of Wikipedia,also affect the overall evaluation of Wikipedia.Thirdly,the retrieval system of Wikipedia can be divided into basic retrieval system and auxiliary retrieval system.The differences between Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica exist in the following respects:the functions of retrieval system,the use of cross-reference system and hyperlinks,the presentation of references and the correlation of related articles.Therefore,there are three distinctive features of the retrieval system:the diversity of the functions of the retrieval system,the openness of the retrieval system and the accessibility of editing history.And some problems have also emerged in the retrieval system of Wikipedia:the high density of hyperlinks,the frequent existing problems of network literature and the lack of consistency in the contents of cross-reference system.In a nutshell,both advantages and limitations are embodied in the crowd-sourced compilation model.The advantages reflect in the rapid growth in the number of articles,low cost,free access and the richer contents etc.Meanwhile,the limitations lie in the uneven quality of article contents,the principle of neutrality which is difficult to thoroughly running and volunteers’ enthusiasm which is hard to be guaranteed.The advantages of the crowdsourced model with the elaborate design of the compiling system essentially fulfill the main functions of Wikipedia:information retrieval and self-education.However,there are also some irreconcilable contradictions in the crowdsourced model which have led to some problems in Wikipedia and hinder the better realization of its main functions.In order to make the full use of the advantages of the crowdsourced model,and avoid its disadvantage,the dissertation proposes the application of the crowdsourced model in the future online encyclopedia compilation from the following four aspects:to provide abundant raw materials,to finish the first draft of article,to examine and verify the article contents and to learn the user’s actual needs.Additionally,the research also puts forward a scholars-led,volunteers-based compilation model with the combination of the above four aspects.