In their explanation of the parts that make up the systems that are informational ecologies, Nardi and O'Day talk about the concept of diversity. They go on to explain that diversity in informational ecologies takes the form of many different roles, people, and tools. These different roles, people, and tools all help the informational ecology to function well by working together and complementing one another. According to Nardi and O'Day, diversity in informational ecologies is also key to helping them survive change, and is therefore related to the continual evolution of the ecologies. Finally, they point out that "a diverse information ecology...has many different resources and materials and allows for individual proclivities and interests."
Wikitravel is definitely reflective of this concept, and as an informational ecology, contains a lot of diversity. Anyone can participate in the site by editing or adding information to pages, or even by creating new pages, which results in many different people becoming involved in the information ecology. Not everyone who adds to or edits the site comes from the same background. There are people from all over the world, so there is a variety of nationalities, races, ethnicities, and beliefs represented. Basically, contributors can be from any country, male or female, young or old, of Asian or Hispanic descent, and that adds a lot of diversity.
There are also different roles involved in Wikitravel. Some people contribute as the initial writers- the first ones to create a page. Others contribute by editing what's already there, or adding new information to an existing page. Still others might only upload photographs. Then there are the docents for different locations, and the site overseers.
As for tools, there are lots of those too. Wikitravel uses a creative commons license, which allows contributors to share their knowledge, writing, and photos, for example. Contributors also have the option to edit, by adding or deleting, or add brand new information or photos to the site.
Just as Nardi and O'Day suggested, the many people, tools, and roles that make up Wikitravel work together to allow it to survive change. Things are constantly changing. Restaurants and hotels close and new ones open, for example. When doing my Wikitravel project, I found that the North Kingstown page had a few restaurants listed that were no longer in business, and there were a couple of newer restaurants that had not been added yet. By allowing contributors to edit the pages, to delete restaurants that have closed and add new ones that have opened, Wikitravel keeps up with these changes. Still, the tools to edit that it offers would be for nothing if there were not so many different people contributing, since each person has their own knowledge. Maybe someone would know that the restaurant had closed, while another had not. If there were not so many contributors, changes would have a greater chance of being missed and the information would not be up to date, rendering Wikitravel less effective.
As for whether informational ecologies raise awareness about and reflect how we interact with others, I believe they do. Most interactions online are not so different than real-life interactions. The expected social rules are the same, for example. On Facebook, just as in real-life interactions, it is expected that people will be polite to one another and respect the different opinions and beliefs expressed. However, knowing that Facebook is a place for people to express their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs, one can expect to find more differences of opinion. How people react to differences online can reflect how they might react to differences in real-life experiences as well. Either that, or people will take less care to be respectful because it is online and they do not feel they are as constrained, in which case informational ecologies such as Facebook or Wikitravel, where it is so easy to edit and change pages and people can get quite defensive about their work, can serve to make people aware as to how they would react in situations where they feel less pressure to live up to expectations (as a result of no direct interaction).
This is a superb post write and response to the prompt, Amanda. It is clear that you have read and understood Nardi and O'Day's arguments in an nuanced and in-depth way. Moreover, the way you've worked through a number of the concepts in the reading, applying them to Wikitravel, is especially insightful. Well done this is very, very strong work and I encourage you to continue reflecting and learning in such a rigorous manner.
ReplyDelete