Wikipedia, a Sociotechnical Resource?

Abstract

The process of digitization is transversal to the different domains of society, including the digitization of encyclopaedias, namely Britannica Online (surpassing its own centennial print edition). In turn, it was surpassed by Wikipedia, which emerged from the advent of web 2.0. Due to the cyclopean proportion that it reached throughout its 19 years of existence, it fulfils an old dream, i.e. to gather, in one place, all the knowledge of humanity – thus, somehow constituting the new library of Alexandria. It also responds to the demands of the digital world, namely by having followed a path aligned with digital and technological evolution, such as the constitution of a community that integrates both human and non-human agents. As Wikipedia is an essential tool when searching on the internet, our aim is to contribute to the understanding of this open resource. Moreover, we address the question of Wikipedia being a sociotechnical system, where bots, non-human collaborators, intervene, either in repetitive automated editions, or progressively expanding its scope, in a sophistication of actions that are not restricted to the content of the articles, but, instead, expand to socialize with the community of users.