Wikipedia, everyone knows it and uses it from time to time, but who knows who maintains it? Almost everything has a Wikipedia page, which could be a good or bad thing for some subjects, especially with some companies. This is why I chose to look at the C-SPAN Wikipedia page. I chose them for two main reasons: one because I worked there over the summer and two because during a meeting with all the interns which the subject was how to make C-SPAN more "attractive" to the younger members, an issue with the "Allegations of bias and other controversies" was brought up. This section is problematic for C-SPAN because it either contained the wrong information about C-SPAN or the section itself was written in a bias tone. They have made numerous efforts to change it (and probably are continuing to do so) but a watchgroup pretty much prevents C-SPAN from changing the information. They do this by constantly watching the page and prompting changing it back.
As soon as you go to the discussion page, you see a big banner which states that C-SPAN article is within the scope of the Wiki Project of the District of Columbia, which is an entire group dedicated to covering all "Distinct of the Columbia related topics on Wikipedia". To become a member, you need to go to the project page and join. Because a person has to join this group, it would seem like this group has more authority because one would trust that they are much more knowledgeable about the C-SPAN than other random people. There is also a C-SPAN community that exists along side the Wikipedia page.
I think the section that shows the most collaboration (or at least is discussed about the most) is the allegation of bias one. There are many individuals constantly editing and remarking on the editing of this section. One person even suggested that this section be protected because someone keeps putting "bias" or wrong information up. Another suggested that an Admin get involved. In fact, many individuals are very concerned about legitimacy and correctness of information. This is showed in the edit section, where there seems to be a lot of edits meant to keep the page up-to-date on C-SPAN's activities and events.
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I thought it was interesting that C-Span doesn't allow non-members of the "Project of the District of Columbia" to edit the page. I guess that can be a good strategic because its ensuring that only people knowledgeable about the subject can make contributions. It also should defer vandalism, as that seems to be a problem in other Wikipedia articles. However, this type of exclusiveness can also hurt the article. I think that since a diverse group of people watch C-Span, they should be able to contribute to the Wiki. Because of the block, the C-Span article will be less likely to have the broad and diverse opinions that other companies may receive.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that C-SPAN has a group of employees watching to make sure that the company is portrayed in a good light. It shows just how much companies are acknowledging that Web 2.0 and viral marketing are important tools. I'm not sure that I approve of this, though -- as much as you always want to portray yourself in a positive light, there should also be places where people are free to express their not-so-positive opinions without interference.
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