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Before the Sense of 'We': Identity Work as a Bridge from Mass Collaboration to Group Emergence

Published: 23 August 2017 Publication History

Abstract

Individuals engaged in mass collaboration in Wikipedia may join to work recurrently with the same partners. It may well be that a significant portion of Wikipedia content is produced this way. Therefore, it is important to study how such groups emerge. In this paper, we argue how such recurrence may involve identity work that creates a sense of 'we-ness.' We provide a case from Wikipedia, focusing on how individual Wikipedians came together to work on a collaborative Feature Article task. Furthermore, the same people came together in other content collaborations, and they identified themselves as a group. The findings suggest that identity work can bridge mass collaborations to the emergence of smaller-scale sustained groups. Our theoretical contribution brings together research streams on mass collaboration, group dynamics, and identity. This offers interesting pathways for further research.

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  • (2022)Effective Organizing on the Fly: Social Capital in Temporary OrganizationsJournal of Computer Information Systems10.1080/08874417.2022.214345663:5(1213-1227)Online publication date: 16-Nov-2022

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    cover image ACM Other conferences
    OpenSym '17: Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Open Collaboration
    August 2017
    218 pages
    ISBN:9781450351874
    DOI:10.1145/3125433
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    Published: 23 August 2017

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    Author Tags

    1. Wikipedia
    2. group emergence
    3. identity work
    4. mass collaboration
    5. stigmergy

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    • (2022)Effective Organizing on the Fly: Social Capital in Temporary OrganizationsJournal of Computer Information Systems10.1080/08874417.2022.214345663:5(1213-1227)Online publication date: 16-Nov-2022

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