Principled Innovation LLC

Join me for a Wikipedia case study discussion next week!

February 6th, 2007

HBS professors Andrew McAfee and Karim Lakhani have co-authored a case study on Wikipedia which is now available online. The case narrative explores the controversy created by an article on Professor McAfee’s concept of Enterprise 2.0, and the online case site includes information on Wikipedia’s history and current operations. It is a very interesting read, and should certainly make for a spirited conversation.

So, next Wednesday, February 14 from 7:30 am-9 am, I plan to facilitate that conversation. If you’re attending ASAE & The Center’s Technology Conference at the Washington Convention Center, I hope you will join me for an informal discussion of the case study and its implications. To participate, I ask you to please send me an e-mail so I can start a list. Also, it is important that you actually prepare the case study and review the exhibits. (Check out this site for information on case study analysis and preparation.) The more prepared you are, the better our conversation will be.

Professor McAfee has created the following study questions as a lens through which to view the case, and to organize your thinking for our conversation:

• If you were the administrator who volunteered to close out the Articles for Deletion process about the “Enterprise 2.0″ article, what would your decision be? What tools, if any, do you have to make sure your recommendation is followed?
• Peruse a few Wikipedia articles on subjects where you have some interest or expertise. What do you think of them? Are they thorough? Accurate? Useful? Across all of them, how even is the quality?
• How do Wikipedia’s processes for creating and modifying articles ever lead to high-quality results? How much do the encyclopedia’s policies and guidelines help? What ensures that a contributor will follow them?
• What are the most important differences between Nupedia and Wikipedia? Why did Nupedia generate so few articles, and why does Wikipedia generate so many?
• Are you a Wikipedia deletionist, inclusionist, or something else? Why is this your philosophy?
• Do you agree that at the time of the case Wikipedia is a bureaucracy? Why or why not?

Finally, I ask you to stay tuned to this blog for updates on the plans for our conversation. I am hoping for a critical mass of 6-10 participants for this informal discussion, so that is why I am asking you to let me know in advance whether you will attend. I look forward to discussing the case in detail with you. If you have any questions, please let me know or leave a comment below.

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