The tension between academic knowledge production and online peer production

Abstract

Online mass collaboration projects, such as Wikipedia and those designed for developing open source software programs, are remarkable examples of hybrid spaces where knowledge and information are co-produced by a wide variety of social actors. They share many features with traditional scientific practices: peer review mechanisms, a commitment for open publication of results, a meritocratic culture, etc. Nevertheless, there are also important differences: in online peer production peer review is often open and post-publication; the distinction between experts and lay people does not play a priori a crucial role ¿ amateur contributions are welcome; not only results are published but the process of production ¿ and thus intermediate results and procedures - is also open, etc. Though the present movement towards open science and open research pleads for importing some of these features to the realm of science and academia, it is not clear whether both cultures and ways of knowledge production are fully compatible. We try to address this issue through an empirical study on university lecturers¿ uses and perceptions of Wikipedia. The ¿free collaborative encyclopedia¿ is known to be one of the widest used resources by university students, but there are no systematic studies on how lectures and researchers use and perceive this source of information - though they seem to share a more skeptical view. We will present the preliminary results of a set on interviews to professors in different departments of our own university, as a first qualitative stage of a longer on-going research project.

Projectes de col·laboració en línia de comunicació, com la Viquipèdia, i els dissenyats pel desenvolupament de programari de programes de codi obert, són exemples notables d'espais híbrids on el coneixement i la informació són co-produïdes per una àmplia varietat d'actors socials.

Proyectos de colaboración en línea de comunicación, como Wikipedia y los diseñados para el desarrollo de software de programas de código abierto, son ejemplos notables de espacios híbridos donde el conocimiento y la información son co-producidas por una amplia variedad de actores sociales.