%0 Journal Article
%T Shirky and Sanger, or the costs of crowdsourcing
%A Mathieu O'Neil
%J JCOM : Journal of Science Communication
%D 2010
%I SISSA, Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati
%X Online knowledge production sites do not rely on isolated experts but on collaborative processes, on the wisdom of the group or ¡°crowd¡±. Some authors have argued that it is possible to combine traditional or credentialled expertise with collective production; others believe that traditional expertise's focus on correctness has been superseded by the affordances of digital networking, such as re-use and verifiability. This paper examines the costs of two kinds of ¡°crowdsourced¡± encyclopedic projects: Citizendium, based on the work of credentialled and identified experts, faces a recruitment deficit; in contrast Wikipedia has proved wildly popular, but anti-credentialism and anonymity result in uncertainty, irresponsibility, the development of cliques and the growing importance of pseudo-legal competencies for conflict resolution. Finally the paper reflects on the wider social implications of focusing on what experts are rather than on what they are for.
%K Science and media
%K Public communication of and discourses on science and technology
%K Social participation to science and technology
%U http://jcom.sissa.it/archive/09/01/Jcom0901%282010%29C01/Jcom0901%282010%29C04/Jcom0901%282010%29C04.pdf