Evaluating Multilevel User Skill Expression in a Public, Unsupervised Wiki: A Case Study

Michael Trice

doi:10.1109/tpc.2016.2592560

IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication Sep 2016

Evaluating Multilevel User Skill Expression in a Public, Unsupervised Wiki: A Case Study

Michael Trice Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Abstract

Background: This case study examines how users of varied experience levels interact with an open-access content-management system (CMS) that lacks managed leadership. In particular, this case study compared how experienced and new users performed at a variety of tasks in a nonprofit community wiki to evaluate skill acquisition and possible skill loss. Research questions: (1) Do experienced users make more use of CMS features (templates, tags, hyperlinks) than new users, even without instruction? (2) Where do experienced and new users differ in successful task completion in the wiki? Situating the case: A number of content-management evaluations have utilized usability as a key method for evaluating user experience. In addition, Wikipedia has been a frequent target of investigation. This study looks to expand the crowd-sourced wikis evaluated in this manner. Methodology: This case study started with a series of interviews to determine how users expected to use the community wiki. After the interviews, 10 users (5 new and 5 experienced) were evaluated for this study, each performing 6 tasks. About the case: This study looked at the initial installation of a local community wiki system. The system is a CMS designed for use by municipal territories to create crowd-sourced wikis capable of preserving knowledge that would not traditionally fit in Wikipedia entries. Conclusions: Users who maintained sufficient interest in the wiki to become experienced wiki users developed a number of core skills even without organizational support, though new users demonstrated a steep skill deficit. However, new users actually demonstrated a greater capacity to highlight incompleteness of information within the wiki than experienced users in one key task.

Journal: IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
Published: 2016-09-01
DOI: 10.1109/tpc.2016.2592560
CompPile: Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access: Closed
Topics: technical communication qualitative research
Export: BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

Cites in this index (5)

Andersen (2014)

Planning for the Shaping Force of Cultural Dynamics in a Component Content-Mana…

IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
Andersen (2011)

Component Content Management: Shaping the Discourse through Innovation Diffusio…

Technical Communication Quarterly
Rude (2009)

Mapping the Research Questions in Technical Communication

Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Clark (2007)

Content Management and the Separation of Presentation and Content

Technical Communication Quarterly
Hart-Davidson et al. (2007)

Coming to Content Management: Inventing Infrastructure for Organizational Knowl…

Technical Communication Quarterly

Also cites 8 works outside this index ↓

10.1201/EBK1439828946-8

↗
10.1017/CBO9780511818271

↗
10.3758/BF03195514

↗
10.1017/CBO9780511518201

↗
potts (2013)

10.4324/9780203366905

Social Media in Disaster Response How Experience Architects can Build for Adaptation ↗
10.1177/0894439308321890

↗
10.1016/j.intcom.2010.11.002

↗
barton (2008)

10.3998/dcbooks.5871848.0001.001

Wiki Writing-Collaborative Learning in the College Classroom ↗

CrossRef global citation count: 2 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Evaluating Multilevel User Skill Expression in a Public, Unsupervised Wiki: A Case Study

Abstract

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

Cites in this index (5)

Related Articles