WIKIBOOKS AND WIKIBOOKIANS:

LOOSELY-COUPLED COMMUNITY OR THE FUTURE OF THE TEXTBOOK INDUSTRY?

Ed-Media 2009, Honolulu, HI

Meng-Fen Grace LinUniversity of Hawaii at Manoa, gracelin@hawaii.edu Suthiporn SajjapanrojIndiana University, ssajjapa@indiana.edu Curt BonkIndiana University, cjbonk@indiana.edu

Technologies drastically changing the

Textbook/Publishing Industry

Pocket School Project, Stanford University

(Mexico in 2008; Rwanda in January 2009)

Apple iPhone 3G S Announced (June 2009)

Scribd Signs Book Deal (June, 2009)

E-book Readers (May 2008)

Digital textbooks: Hits California

(May-June 2009)

Enter FlatWorld Knowledge (8m of VC in March 2009)

Research on Wikis and Wikibooks

Wikimedia Foundation (includes Wikipedia)

Wikibooks Main Pagehttp://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page

Wikibooks Website

Types of wikibooks created…

What types of books have you created contributed to in the Wikibooks Website

Sample Wikibook (cooking)

Sample Wikibook (The Web 2.0)

Wikijunior (for kids birth to age 12)

Purpose of Study

A follow-up survey study to verify: Male domination? Unsatisfied with Wikibooks

environment? Multiple roles?

A follow-up survey study to further understand: Wikibookians’ identity Inner working of the community Experience lived as a Wikibookians

Methods Used

Survey 46 items and 3 open-ended questions Demographics Identity Experience Community

Participants: Actual participated in Wikibooks Through revision history Email user function on site 1900 emails sent; 167 valid responses

Findings - Age

Age Previous study (80

participants)

Current study (167

participants)

Under 18 19% 8%

18-25 39% 35%

26-34 25% 20%

35-50 12% 25%

Over 50 5% 13%

Findings - Gender

Previous study (80 participants)

Current study (167 participants)

Findings – Education

Degrees Previous study (80

participants)

Current study (167

participants)Lower than high school 10% 5%High school 29% 23%Two-year college 11% 10%Four-year college 23% 26%Master’s or graduate level degree 16% 21%Doctoral or post graduate degree 11% 16%

Findings - Location

Findings - Language

Findings - Language

Male domination Young but more evenly

distributed All education background North America and Europe English-speaking

Discussion - demographic

Findings - Experience

How would you label yourself in terms of Wikibooks?

Findings - Experience

How long have you been contributing to or editing in Wikibooks?

Findings - Experience

How often are your Wikibooks edited, expanded, or modified

Findings - Experience

The level of your contribution/involvement

How long have you been contributing to or editing in Wikibooks?

1=low 10=high

Our study average = 5

Not experts Not long Not frequent Not highly involved

Discussion - experience

Findings - Identity

The main goal of Wikibooks is to create virtual learning resources for education

Findings - Identity

What is/are reason(s) that you have coordinated or completed one or more Wikibooks

Findings - Identity

To what degree do you trust the information provided in most Wikibooks

1=low 10=high

Our study average = 7

Findings - Identity

What skills and competencies have you developed since becoming a member of Wikibooks

Skills and Competencies Gained: Quote

A: Editing skills (which is much different from writing) since mostly I am involved with cleaning up or relocating existing work to improve the readability and structure of the book. Wikibooks are never completed…..They constantly change, evolve, expand, condense, and adapt as writers and editors gain and lose interest.

Findings - Identity

A Wikibook written by a large group of people is better than a Wikibook written by a small group of people

Findings - Identity

The number of collaborators you had

Findings - Identity

How will you use the most recently completed or current Wikibook project (check all that apply)

High trust in contentFew or no collaboratorVariety of skillsAltruism

Discussion- Identity

Findings - Community

Do you feel that you are part of the Wikibooks community

Findings - Community

Is it necessary to provide apprenticeship or mentoring for new people in the Wikibook environment

Findings - Community

Are there people who have helped you with your Wikibook projects

Findings - Community

What has helped your level of comfort

Findings - Community

How long does it take to learn how to use Wikibooks

Findings - Community

Do you help or apprentice others in their Wikibook efforts

Findings - Community

How is someone typically apprenticed into the Wikibooks environment

Findings - Community

The process of finding compromise and agreement is more important than the product of the Wikibook

Findings - Community

What is your view of Wikibooks

Findings - Community

“I simply don't contribute a whole lot; I prefer simply to learn, and Wikibooks does an excellent job at that”

View of Wikibooks: Quote I started out contributing to the

Electronics wikibook and the Robotics book, occasionally. I watched it turn into a complete mess, as a single person turned a book about Electronics into a grand unified book about Life, the Universe, and Everything…..There are just too few people on Wikibooks to fight off such disruptions, so it just goes on uncontrolled.

Loose-coupled community Common practice and shared goals Focus on sharing and learning Friendship and socializing not

important

Discussion - Community

Points to ponder

How can Wikibooks become more of a community with apprenticeship? Should it?

Will people assume a high level status in society as a wikibookian just as writers and novelists are today?

What if schools in California and Texas and other states start adopting Wikibooks for K-12 education?

How would wiki-curriculum created by children work?

Future research

Asynchronous apprenticeship In-depth ethnographical

understanding of the lived experience of a Wikibookian

Communicate with Wikimedia foundation (see milestones below); suggest improvements of tools; keep monitoring changes at site

Future research

User aspects: talk to students and instructors who have created or used Wikibooks

Explore Wikibooks junior Research K-12 classroom

development and use of Wikibooks Create government initiatives for

free and open books

Questions and Comments… Note: We have posted many wiki

papers to the Wiki-RIKI site: http://wiki-riki.wikispaces.com/