Hackers, Cyborgs, and Wikipedians: The Political Economy and Cultural History of Wikipedia

Hackers, Cyborgs, and Wikipedians: The Political Economy and Cultural History of Wikipedia

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Famiglietti, Andrew A.
Language:English
Published: Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK 2011
Subjects:
American Studies
Epistemology
Information Technology
Wikipedia
Peer Production
Cultural Studies
New Media
Political Economy
Online Access:http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1300717552
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spelling ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-bgsu13007175522021-08-03T05:29:32Z Hackers, Cyborgs, and Wikipedians: The Political Economy and Cultural History of Wikipedia Famiglietti, Andrew A. American Studies Epistemology Information Technology Wikipedia Peer Production Cultural Studies New Media Political Economy <p>This dissertation explores the political economy and cultural history of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. It demonstrates how Wikipedia, an influential and popular site of knowledge production and distribution, was influenced by its heritage from the hacker communities of the late twentieth century. More specifically, Wikipedia was shaped by an ideal I call, “the cyborg individual,” which held that the production of knowledge was best entrusted to a widely distributed network of individual human subjects and individually owned computers. I trace how this ideal emerged from hacker culture in response to anxieties hackers experienced due to their</p><p>intimate relationships with machines. I go on to demonstrate how this ideal influenced how Wikipedia was understood both those involved in the early history of the site, and those writing about it. In particular, legal scholar Yochai Benkler seems to base his understanding of Wikipedia and its strengths on the cyborg individual ideal. Having established this, I then move on to show how the cyborg individual ideal misunderstands Wikipedia's actual method of production. Most importantly, it overlooks the importance of how the boundaries drawn around communities and shared technological resources shape Wikipedia's content. I then proceed to begin the process of building what I believe is a better way of understanding Wikipedia, by tracing how communities and shared resources shape the production of recent Wikipedia articles.</p> 2011-05-05 English text Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1300717552 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1300717552 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: some rights reserved. It is licensed for use under a Creative Commons license. Specific terms and permissions are available from this document's record in the OhioLINK ETD Center.
collection NDLTD
language English
sources NDLTD
topic American Studies
Epistemology
Information Technology
Wikipedia
Peer Production
Cultural Studies
New Media
Political Economy
spellingShingle American Studies
Epistemology
Information Technology
Wikipedia
Peer Production
Cultural Studies
New Media
Political Economy
Famiglietti, Andrew A.
Hackers, Cyborgs, and Wikipedians: The Political Economy and Cultural History of Wikipedia
author Famiglietti, Andrew A.
author_facet Famiglietti, Andrew A.
author_sort Famiglietti, Andrew A.
title Hackers, Cyborgs, and Wikipedians: The Political Economy and Cultural History of Wikipedia
title_short Hackers, Cyborgs, and Wikipedians: The Political Economy and Cultural History of Wikipedia
title_full Hackers, Cyborgs, and Wikipedians: The Political Economy and Cultural History of Wikipedia
title_fullStr Hackers, Cyborgs, and Wikipedians: The Political Economy and Cultural History of Wikipedia
title_full_unstemmed Hackers, Cyborgs, and Wikipedians: The Political Economy and Cultural History of Wikipedia
title_sort hackers, cyborgs, and wikipedians: the political economy and cultural history of wikipedia
publisher Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK
publishDate 2011
url http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1300717552
work_keys_str_mv AT famigliettiandrewa hackerscyborgsandwikipediansthepoliticaleconomyandculturalhistoryofwikipedia
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