Building Quality in Wikipedia: A Theoretical Approach

Abstract

Wikipedia is known as a convenient source of user generated information for a wide range of topics, but is it able to compete in quality with a print encyclopedia? In this paper, I formulate a theoretical framework to investigate this topic. I begin with a two-step sequential case for both Wikipedia and print encyclopedia, in which I find that the quality of Wikipedia is generally slightly lower than that of a print encyclopedia. In an extension to an n-person case, I find that the quality of Wikipedia can rise higher than that of print encyclopedia. After taking into account the generally lower costs of contribution for Wikipedia, this small difference will be eliminated.