Introduction

Summary

Conclusion

Good Faith Collaboration

Summary

In the first chapter, "Nazis and Norms," Reagle Jr. introduces readers to the concept of "good faith collaboration" by relating a discussion (found on Wikipedia) centered on the Wikipedia article "Jewish Ethnocentrism." He notes that though this article deals with a highly contentious and sensitive issue, the parties who disagreed remained cordial (2). This leads to his research question of "How should we understand this community's [Wikipedia] collaborative--'good faith'--culture?" (3). The rest of the text offers his tentative answer to this question. Before proceeding, though, he provides some basic information about what Wikis are and what Wikipedia is (including what it strives to do).

The next chapter, "The Pursuit of the Universal Encyclopedia" examines prior projects that have similar goals to Wikipedia. These projects include Paul Otlet's Universal Bibliographic Repertory, H.G. Wells's "World Brain," Project Xanadu, Project Gutenberg, Interpedia, Distributed Encyclopedia, and Nupedia (among others). The author posits that these pre-cursors to Wikipedia "speaks to the alluring and enduring notion of an ambitious project human knowledge production and dissemination: a universal encyclopedia. This vision persisted throughout the twentieth century even though each instance was prompted by different technologies and entailed differing levels of accessibility in production [...]" (42).

Following this historical grounding, Reagle Jr. explores the collaborative culture of Wikipedia in the third chapter, "Good Faith Collaboration." Here he not only defines what he means by collaborative culture--"a set of assumptions, values, meanings, and actions pertaining to working together within a community" (47)--but he also argues that wikis put collaborative theory into practice. From there he explores how Wikipedia exercises a neutral point of view while adhering to the ideas of good faith collaboration; this exploration is achieved by examining a variety of Wikipedia articles and entries.

In "The Puzzle of Openness" (chapter four), Reagle Jr. addresses a few ideas related to openness. He begins by questioning whether Wikipedia is really an encyclopedia that anyone can edit, paying particular attention to new features Wikipedia recently implemented to help limit vandalization of the site. Following this discussion, he briefly looks at the how interaction between "Wikipedians" and "non-Wikipedians" affects the openness of the encyclopedia; this leads to a discussion regarding the concerns of bureaucratization within Wikipedia and how it threatens its openness. He concludes by exploring a case study of a female-only group that is set up outside of the Wikipedia community to discuss the gender biases found in Wikipedia. Though he ultimately posits that Wikipedia is not a perfect open community, it does allow individuals to discuss the community's values and how to balance them. This discussion, he suggests, makes Wikipedia a successful open community (96).

Chapter five, "The Challenge of Consensus," focuses explicitly on difficulties in consensus decision making, while elucidating how consensus is arrived at in the English version of Wikipedia. This leads into a discussion of authority within Wikipedia, as in chapter six, "The Benevolent Dictator," Reagle Jr. examines the role authority plays in Wikipedia. This chapter pays particular attention to Wikipedia co-founders' (Larry Sanger and Jimmy Wales) competing ideas of how to oversee Wikipedia. The latter half of the chapter focuses exclusively on Wales's current role in running Wikipedia. The author concludes this section by noting "Despite its good-faith collaborative culture, its egalitarian ethos, and its openness--or because of it--Wikipedia has been shaped by authorial leadership" (134-135).

In chapter seven, "Encyclopedic Anxiety," Reagle Jr. interrogates the numerous criticisms that Wikipedia receives based on how knowledge is created in Wikipedia. He grounds this discussion in a historical argument, pointing out that Wikipedia--like other, older revolutionary reference texts--triggers social anxieties that seem inherently embedded in technological and social change. This leads to his conclusion, "A Globe in Accord," where Reagle Jr. reiterates that Wikipedia is a successful open community governed by good faith norms; he subtly suggests that its willingness to change and its organic nature allows it to flourish amid the many critics and skeptics.