Wikipedia and the Pitfalls of Collaborative Solutions.
Wikipedia is now 10 years old. After amassing 17 million articles, 400 million users per month and 80,000 regular contributors it may seem strange to see public criticism from founder Jimmy Wales.
Wales’ concern is that many users find it hard to contribute to the site. This led me to think of how collaborative design can greatly help businesses but also create new challenges.
Many businesses benefit from a collaborative presence on the web to better engage with their user community and customer base. For example, software developers can build product documentation in conjunction with users and promote version tracking.
This attracts a loyal customer and user base who aid in the development of both products and services via their input. A wide ranging audience must be catered for with many mature communities alienating new users, as experienced by Wikipedia. Facebook has shown that attempts to improve the user experience can be met with quiet approval from those struggling users and fierce uproar from others.
Jimmy Wales will soon face a challenge in evolving one of the most influential sites of the internet. A new designwill be created in the hope of growing the user base to 1 billion in the next 4 years. This focus on an easier user interface will make Wikipedia approachable for new users but I fear the possibility of strong criticism from the thousands of contributors who have helped make the site a success should they be overlooked.
A collaborative presence on the web can be a great thing when users are happy to contribute. Users who are appreciated will continue to provide rich content. If they are involved in the development, design and evolution they will remain loyal and help growth. When they are excluded or ignored in favour of attracting a new influx of users things could turn sour.
