Who integrates the networks of knowledge in Wikipedia?

ABSTRACT

In the study presented in this article we investigated two related knowledge domains, physiology and pharmacology, from the German version of Wikipedia. Applying the theory of knowledge building to this community, we studied the authors of integrative knowledge.

Network analysis indices of betweenness and closeness centrality were calculated for the network of relevant articles. We compared the work of authors who wrote exclusively in one domain with that of authors who contributed to both domains. The position of double-domain authors for a knowledge building wiki community is outstanding. They are not only responsible for the integration of knowledge from a different background, but also for the composition of the single-knowledge domains. Predominantly they write articles which are integrative and central in the context of such domains.

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Index Terms

• Applied computing

  • Education

• Human-centered computing

  • Collaborative and social computing

• Social and professional topics

  • Professional topics

    • Computing and business