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Wiki Theory
Is there a formula to describe the function of a wiki? I've seen lots of wikis work, and lots fail, and there's always some critical mass at which point the thing becomes self-sustaining (analogous to the number of neurons or flops needed for consciousness?). Wikipedia owns the world. The department knowledgebase died three times, so it's not having a number of wiki zealots or super-contributors.
I have a hunch that there's some very nebuolous critical factor. That might go some way to explaining the reactions of wiki-zealots and wiki-decriers, both of whom see wiki projects in pretty concrete ways. It feels like the argument for abiogenesis: one group see the huge physical and time scales and their gut says, "P tends toward 1"; another group say "P tends toward 0 for that unlikely reaction" and need to invoke an outside agency (mmm, tastes like God).
I have a hunch that there's some very nebuolous critical factor. That might go some way to explaining the reactions of wiki-zealots and wiki-decriers, both of whom see wiki projects in pretty concrete ways. It feels like the argument for abiogenesis: one group see the huge physical and time scales and their gut says, "P tends toward 1"; another group say "P tends toward 0 for that unlikely reaction" and need to invoke an outside agency (mmm, tastes like God).