Wikipedia has become one of the most popular sources of information around the world and its growth has been impressive. But a new research from the Palo Alto Research Centre – according to the New Scientist - indicates that the online encyclopaedia shows symptoms of exhaustion. The report also tries to raise awareness about the fact that nothing in the online world can be expected to last forever.
The study shows that the number of new editors and new content in Wikipedia has been gradually declining and focuses on how this can affect the quality in the long term. Wikipedia, which was founded back in 2001, today has over 3 million articles for a large number of topics, but the rate of new content creation has been declining in the last couple of years. More specifically, 2006 was the peak year with over 60,000 articles added every month. Since then this number has been reduced to just one third. Moreover, since 2007 the number of edited content (comments, additional information, citations etc.) has also been reducing as a result of the declining numbers of active editors.
This is a direct impact of internal changes within Wikipedia, since the balance is tilting towards the well established editors and content creators, rather than the occasional writers. Therefore, new users are less encouraged to contribute with new or additional content which is the driving power behind Web 2.0. On the other hand, Wikipedia is becoming more of a well established and organised encyclopaedia closer to the standards of traditional publishers.
The researchers at Palo Alto are warning that if this trend continues it might have a negative impact upon the organisation as well as affect the number of new editors and content contributors. Moreover the number of volunteers that offer their services as quality controllers that regularly monitor abusive or incorrect material will also be reduced.
All these will have an overall impact to the quality of the information and service provided by Wikipedia. According to Ed Chi, the head of the research team, the amount of information currently hold by Wikipedia is so large that the editors spend more time re-editing and improving old articles rather than creating new ones.
The company decided to review its strategy and proceed with all necessary changes by the end of 2010. The decision making process will be as democratic as possible and will take into account opinions from all the active editors and the people that contribute as volunteers.
