Do as I do: authorial leadership in Wikipedia.

Title:

Do as I do : authorial leadership in Wikipedia

Creator:

Reagle, Joseph M. (Author)

Publisher:

International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration (WikiSym)

Copyright date:

2007

Type of resource:

Text

Genre:

Proceedings

Format:

electronic

Digital origin:

born digital

Abstract/Description:

In seemingly egalitarian collaborative on-line communities, like Wikipedia, there is often a paradoxical, or perhaps merely playful, use of the title "Benevolent Dictator" for leaders. I explore discourse around the use of this title so as to address how leadership works in open content communities. I first review existing literature on "emergent leadership" and then relate excerpts from community discourse on how leadership is understood, performed, and discussed by Wikipedians. I conclude by integrating concepts from existing literature and my own findings into a theory of "authorial" leadership.

Comments:

Originally published in WikiSym '07: Proceedings of the 2007 International Symposium on Wikis (October 21-23, 2007, Montreal, Quebec). http://www.wikisym.org/ws2007/_publish/Reagle_WikiSym2007_WikipediaAuthorialLeadership.pdf
Dr. Reagle is affiliated with Northeastern University as of the time of deposit.

Subjects and keywords:

Wikipedia
leadership
benevolent dictator
authorship
Communication Technology and New Media

Permanent Link:

http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20002876