Presentation given in september 2008 at the World Knowledge Dialogue (Switzerland) by Florence Devouard

1. Virtual communities
and co-creation of knowledge
Florence Devouard
fdevouard@anthere.org
Under otherwise mentionned, all images under cc-by-sa/GFDL, from Wikimedia Commons
Virtual communities and co-creation of knowledge Florence Devouard

2. Virtual communities and co-creation of knowledge Florence Devouard

3. Wikipedia
radical idea
Imagine a world…
n which every
single person
is given access to
the sum of human
knowledge
My daughter, unknown artist,
before I bought her a real computer
Virtual communities and co-creation of knowledge Florence Devouard

4. Classroom in an agricultural community near Livingstone (Zambia), 2007
Parents do not speak English.
But professor teaches English to the kids
Virtual communities and co-creation of knowledge Florence Devouard

5. “Everyone loses if one language is
lost because then a nation
and culture lose their memory,
and so does the complex
Cher and his turaya
tapestry from which the world
Southern Algeria, 2006
is woven and which makes the
world an exciting place.”
Vigdis Finnbogadottir
UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for
Languages
Virtual communities and co-creation of knowledge Florence Devouard

6. Wikipedia, the basics
1) 10,000,000+ articles in 250+ languages
2) Free as in free beer
3) Free to read, to study, to modify and
redistribute
4) Created by thousands of volunteers
5) Runs on a wiki
Virtual communities and co-creation of knowledge Florence Devouard

7. © IBM
Virtual communities and co-creation of knowledge Florence Devouard

8. © IBM
Virtual communities and co-creation of knowledge Florence Devouard

9. Global top 10 website
(Alexa, ComScore, Nielsen) Latin America -- 34% reach
North America -- 31% reach
Middle East/Africa -- 25% reach
Asia Pacific -- 17% reach
Europe – 32% reach
Virtual communities and co-creation of knowledge Florence Devouard

10. Virtual communities and co-creation of knowledge Florence Devouard

11. Author
Evolutions, revolutions Reader
Printing
Writing
Electronic media Internet
Virtual communities and co-creation of knowledge Florence Devouard

12. Virtual communities and co-creation of knowledge Florence Devouard

13. Global trends
• Open doors attract members of the global
talent pool
• Creation (or re-creation of tribes)
• Open systems make bounderies porous to
external ideas
• Openness allows to share successes with
others
• Community united by goals, rules and values
• An economy based on hope and trust
Virtual communities and co-creation of knowledge Florence Devouard

14. Keep it simple, but focused
+++ Fun
+++ Communion (ideology, values),
++ Anticipated Reciprocity
++ Feeling of worthiness
+ Increased Recognition
Virtual communities and co-creation of knowledge Florence Devouard

15. Governance in a peer-network: case of Wikipedia
Republic
Technocracy
Democracy
Precedent
Monarchy
Meritocracy
Anarchy
2003 2005 2007
2001
Virtual communities and co-creation of knowledge Florence Devouard

16. Wish list / Concerns
Governance and regulation on Internet: the Wild West
Need for a global scale economic assessment of open source
Reworking the IP laws, inadapted to XXI century
Virtual communities and co-creation of knowledge Florence Devouard

17. Developing sustainable models where
Access to knowledge and education Emergence of new creators
to all is made possible is facilitated
Creators can make a living
Dissemination and remix of works
is facilitated
Virtual communities and co-creation of knowledge Florence Devouard

18. “The mass is not always right, especially when that
mass is like a conformist herd of sheep that
questions nothing. That is why initiatives toward
collective intelligence aim to capitalize on the whole
diversity of knowledge, skills and ideas within a group
and to organize that diversity in a creative and
productive dialog».
Pierre Lévy
Virtual communities and co-creation of knowledge Florence Devouard

19. Virtual communities and co-creation of knowledge Florence Devouard

20. • http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Dew_on_spider_web_Luc_Viatour.jpg (cc-by-sa
/GFDL)
• http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Endive_p1160063.jpg (cc-by-sa 2.0 /GFDL)
• http://www.xkcd.com/256/
• http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Image:Merton_College_library_hall.jpg (cc-by-sa 2.0 /GFDL)
Virtual communities and co-creation of knowledge Florence Devouard