Wikipedia`s spiral of death?

Dear All
Yet again, the doctorate has taken over my whole life leaving with not much time to blog anymore!! However, now that things have slightly calmed down, I will try to blog more frequently. The operative word being try!!

An interesting research has been carried out by Ortega on the fall of the number of editors of Wikipedia and the reasons for such fall. He also predicts that this worrying trend is likely to continue. The Times also reports some infighting between Wikipedia writers which may also explain the downward spiral in the number of editors (alongside lack of time and reaching saturation point in terms of articles). It will be interesting to see how Wikipedia fares for the next year and the implications if the downward trend continues. It could also be that this research provides an added bonus for either more volunteer editors or for existing ones to contribute more if the main reason for the downward spiral is lack of time.

Wikipedia`s sigh of relief.

The Superior Court of New Jersey has dimissed the case brought by a literary agent, Barbara Bauer against Wikimedia Foundation, the operator of Wikipedia.

Barbara Bauer brought the case against Wikimedia claiming that the latter was liable for statements posted by users on Wikipedia. Some of the statements included she was the 'dumbest of the twenty worst' agents and that she had "no documented sales at all."

The Defendants argued that operators of 'interactive computer services' such as Wikipedia cannot be held liable for comments of its users under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The latter provision does not give platforms immunity but rather requires litigants to complain against the user rather than the platform.

This is a sound legal decision which protects free speech online and also protects platforms against litigation. However, a balance needs to be achieved between the need to foster online interactive communications and protection of the third parties. Simple technological measures as moderating comments, before they are posted online, may help achieve this balance.

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