<CPOV> fyi new media & society,13(5) 704–721

[Jeanette Hofmann]

Hi all,

the whole issue looks quite interesting.


Imagining the Wikipedia community: What do Wikipedia authors mean when 
they write about their ‘community’?

Christian Pentzold
Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany

new media & society
13(5) 704–721



Abstract
This article examines the way Wikipedia authors write their ‘community’ 
into being.
Mobilizing concepts regarding the communicative constitution of 
communities, the
computer-mediated conversation between editors were investigated using 
Grounded
Theory procedures. The analysis yielded an empirically grounded theory 
of the users’
self-understanding of the Wikipedia community as ethos-action community. 
Hence, this
study contributes to research on online community-building as it shifts 
the focus from
structural criteria for communities to the discursive level of community 
formation.

jeanette