Copyright 2010 Digital Enterprise Research Institute. All rights reserved. Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.i e Constructing knowledge through argument: Wikipedia and World Wide Argument Web Jodi Schneider , Alexandre Passant, John Breslin DERI Meeting 2010-12-03 Galway, Ireland
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Wikipedia and World Wide Argument Web (DERI meeting 2010-12-03)
On Wikipedia, knowledge is constructed through collaboration, conflict, and argument. Article discussion spaces form a large and growing proportion of Wikipedia, and we discuss three ongoing contributions to understanding these spaces: interviews with Wikipedia editors and administrators, a large-scale comparative content analysis, and a semantic bookmarklet. Yet for Wikipedia's arguments about knowledge to have a wider impact, we seek to join Wikipedia to the envisioned World Wide Argument Web. We describe the nascent World Wide Argument Web and point to contributions the Social Semantic Web can bring to forming it.
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Copyright 2010 Digital Enterprise Research Institute. All rights reserved.
Digital Enterprise Research Institute www.deri.ie
Constructing knowledge through argument: Wikipedia
and World Wide Argument Web
Jodi Schneider, Alexandre Passant, John Breslin
DERI Meeting2010-12-03Galway, Ireland
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Outline
The Vision Research Progress Future Plans
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World Wide Web & Argument
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World Wide Argument Web (WWAW)
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What if instead of following mailing lists, blogs, online magazines, scientific journals…
You could follow ARGUMENTS? Who is arguing about this topic? Or product? Or idea? Is their view positive or negative? Are their ideas credible? Are they trustworthy? Do people I trust, trust them? What arguments are they making?
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Arguments on Wikipedia
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Wikipedians argue on Talk pages
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Lots of conversations Viégas: “the fastest growing areas
of Wikipedia are devoted to coordination and organization”
When are people agreeing/disagreeing? Not well understood!
Very little study of Talk pages Largest study: 60 pages, 2 types.
Discovered: Featured Articles have 10x discussion!
Immense variation between pages
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Talk pages need semantics
Data from Stvilia
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My Research Questions
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1. What do Wikipedians do on Talk pages?2. What kind of arguments happen on Talk pages?3. Can we add structure to make pages “fit” how
editors and readers use them?
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Three ways of understanding Talk pages
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1. Interviews with editors and administratorsWhat do Wikipedians do on Talk pages?
2. Hand content analysis of 100 Talk pagesWhat kind of arguments happen on Talk pages?
3. A semantic annotation infrastructureCan we add structure to make pages “fit” how editors
and readers use them?
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1. Interviews
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Administrators Frequently monitor conversations Know + meet co-editors Make community-related edits such as adding infoboxes More likely to move/rename articles and Talk pages
Editors Mostly read Talk pages “Get the scoop”—what’s controversial? More details? More likely to read older conversations May learn policy and procedures
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2. Content Analysis
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100 Talk pages 5 categories of pages
Most editors (of the article) Most visits (to the article) Controversial Featured Articles Random
15 classifications
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Classification Examples
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Classification Example
Reference to...
Sources outside the wiki ... Not sure where to put it but I’ll leave it here as somebody might find it useful
Reverts, removed material, or controversial edits
I noticed some people edit the page into what it will be in 10 minutes but someone is reverting it...just let it be
Edits the discussant made Added the About.com review since the review was part of the reception section.
Requests for...
Help with another article, portal, etc.
This is just to invite attention to the page Facebook statistics just created…
?comment sioc:has_container ?page ; a sioc:Post ; a siocwt:RequestInfo .
}
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Retrieve posts by novices which have no replies
SELECT ?comment ?reply ?user ?name WHERE {
?comment a sioc:Post ; sioc:has_creator ?user .
OPTIONAL { ?user sioc:name ?name . }
OPTIONAL { ?comment sioc:has_reply ?reply . }
FILTER (!BOUND(?name)) FILTER (!BOUND(?reply))}
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Back to the World Wide Argument Web
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Arguing all over the Web
Wikipedia is not the only place people argue.
Research questions: What related arguments are there? What new arguments that I haven’t seen are
there? Should I believe this argument?
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Arguments at BBC’s Have Your Say
A simple argument:“Banning new drivers
from driving at night
would be a knee-jerk
reaction to a particular
statistic.
Cars differ from public
transport in that you
can go anywhere at any
time so why take this
advantage away?”
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Analysis
The simplest argument: <claim, reason>
Claim:Banning new drivers from driving at night
would be a knee-jerk reaction
Reason: With a car you can go anywhere at any time
Incomplete!
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Example at BBC’s Have Your SayA Case: “I think the proposed restrictions on young drivers
are completely unrealistic and unfair. When I was 18 and bought my first car I was studying for my A-levels during the day and therefore needed to work in the evenings to earn my own money and pay for the upkeep of my car. I finished work between 11pm and midnight. If these restrictions had been in place I would have had three options: 1-give up my job (I think we can all agree that the current government is aiming to encourage more people to work and take pride in earning their own money, not rely on state handouts or their parents. 2 - Walk home alone in the dark (clearly this is not a sensible option either for obvious reasons) 3 - demand my parents pick me up and drop me off to work each night (this is also unreasonable as many young people cannot rely on their parents for many reasons e.g. if their parents are also working late or cannot drive).”
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WWAW-related questions
What’s possible now? What can the Social Web and Social Semantic
Web contribute? How can we make the WWAW as easy to use as
Web2.0 tools?
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Parts of the WWAW exist
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An interchange format Argument Interchange Format
Argument schemes ‘Argument from Position to Know’, ‘Argument from
“Understanding and Improving Wikipedia Article Discussion Spaces.” In SAC 2011 (Web Track), TaiChung, Taiwan, March 21-25, 2011.
“Enhancing MediaWiki Talk pages with Semantics for Better Coordination - A Proposal.” In The Fifth Workshop on Semantic Wikis: Linking Data and People Workshop at 7th Extended Semantic Web Conference (ESWC), Crete, Greece, May 31, 2010.
“A Content Analysis: How Wikipedia Talk Pages Are Used.” In WebSci2010, Web Science Conference. Raleigh, NC, April 26 & 27 2010.
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References
Stvilia, Twidale, Smith & Gasser, "Information Quality Work Organization in Wikipedia," JASIST 2008. doi: 10.1002/asi.2081
Viégas, Wattenberg, Kriss & Ham, "Talk Before You Type: Coordination in Wikipedia," HICSS 2007. doi: 10.1109/HICSS.2007.511
Rahwan, Zablith & Reed, “Laying the foundations for a World Wide Argument Web,” Artificial Intelligence 2007. doi: 10.1016/j.artint.2007.04.015