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Abstract
Different countries embrace the sharing economy with differing enthusiasm and effects due to factors ranging from the development level to government policies and society's cultural values. This research measures the participation of Asian countries in this phenomena through their contributions to a global sharing economy platform—Wikipedia. This study uses language as a proxy for each country, which allows for a macro-scale comparison of factors related to participation in sharing economy. The study finds that in addition to expected factors related to the global digital divide and the country's development level, other factors such as country's size, dominant language, and cultural factors also play a significant role. Lower development levels, multi-ethnic (multi-language) and smaller populations can be a severe impediment to the development of the sharing economy. Government policy (China) or unique Internet structure (South Korea) can create significant outliers. Contributing to the sharing economy is also more common in countries located near the self-expression and rational-secular ends of the Inglehart-Welzel model, and the uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, and long-term orientation dimensions of the Hofstede model.

This paper presents an analysis of my experiences with a teaching activity that engages students in publishing in Wikipedia on issues relating to globalization. It begins with a short overview of some of the current debates revolving around teaching globalization, which lay ground for the assignment. I discuss how this teaching tool fits with a number of dimensions related to teaching globalization, particularly with an international service learning approach. Finally, I present assessment data from a series of surveys I conducted from 2008 to 2016 on the effectiveness of the assignment.

This article considers the extent to which non-legal factors (nationality, activity/experience, conflict avoidance, and time constrains) affect decision-making within collegiate courts, through the study of the Wikipedia's Arbitration Committee. That body is a self-evolved collegiate court of the Internet's fifth most popular website, whose judges (known as arbitrators) are volunteers. This study shows that the decision-making process of this body seems mostly unaffected by studied demographic factors and the acclimatization bias. Some evidence of conflict avoidance is found. Despite professed equality of members of the Committee, there is clear evidence that some are much more active (and thus, influential) than others. Compared to most traditional court settings, in the volunteer collegiate court studied here, time constrains play a much more significant role than previously suggested in literature.

International audience ; This paper contributes to the discussion on deliberative, direct democracy and volunteer mobilization in the Internet era by analyzing the participation levels of Wikipedia volunteer editors (Wikipedians). On 18th January 2012 in the "first Internet strike" against the American SOPA legislation, over two thousands Wikipedians took part in the vote concerning whether their site should undertake a protest action, with vast majority expressing support for this action. However, the vote participants formed only a tiny fraction of the total number of Wikipedians who number in millions. Although Wikipedia can be seen as an open, democratic forum practicing deliberative, direct democracy, the process of voting on Wikipedia is significantly influenced by participation inequality, with a majority of the vote participation coming from a small group of most active contributors – an effective oligarchy. This paper discusses the intricate dynamics between Wikipedia egalitarian ethos and the creed to discuss project matters deliberately on one hand and conspicuous lack of promotion and advertisement stemming from a rule against "canvassing" and an overall skepticism regarding the status of majority votes. The core reason responsible for the low levels of participation is an inefficient information distribution system, as the vast majority of Wikipedians were not aware of the ongoing discussions and the vote itself until after their conclusion.

Sociologist Piotr Konieczny focuses on the issue of Wikipedia's reception in the world of academia: in the background of slowly growing acceptance of it as an educational tool, why is a significant portion of the researchers and instructors still uneasy with it?

International audience ; This paper contributes to the discussions on Internet mobilization and on international social movements' ability to influence national policy. The event studied is the "first Internet strike" of 18th January 2012 aimed against the SOPA legislation proposed in the USA. Wikipedia's volunteer editors from all around the world took part in the vote concerning whether Wikipedia should undertake a protest action aimed at influencing American policymakers. Wikipedia editors are shown to share values of the international free culture movement, though experienced editors were also likely to be conflicted about whether taking part in a protest action is not violating the site's principle of encyclopedic neutrality. Further, Wikipedia's participation in this protest action allowed non-US citizens to have a visible impact on the US national legislation. As such, Wikipedia can be seen as an international social movement organization, whose 24 hour-long blackout of its popular website was a major factor in the success of the anti-SOPA protests. Wikipedia's blackout was an expression of an international political opportunity structure in the form of worldwide awareness and protests, which in turn enabled a national political opportunity structure by informing and mobilizing American citizens.

Accompanied by growing literacy, information and communication technologies (ICT) have empowered states, organizations, but also – and perhaps most crucially – individuals, creating a more liberal and democratic environment. While also used as tools of social control, those technologies have often been used by revolutionaries and other agents of social change, aiding not only the surveillance state and for-profit organizations, but also individuals and non-state social actors, like social movements. In this paper I review literature on literacy and ICT, and, backed up by the results of a recent survey of international social movements, I conclude that at this pattern of empowerment, traceable throughout the human history, is continuing with the most recent information revolution.

International audience ; In recent years, a new realm has appeared for the study of political and sociological phenomena: the Internet. This paper will analyze the decision-making processes of one of the largest online communities, Wikipedia. Founded in 2001, Wikipedia – now among the top 10 most popular sites on the Internet -- has succeeded in attracting and organizing millions of volunteers and creating the world's largest encyclopedia. To date, however, little study has been done of Wikipedia's governance. There is substantial confusion about its decision-making structure. The organization's governance has been compared to many decision-making and political systems -- from democracy to dictatorship, from bureaucracy to anarchy. It is the purpose of this paper to go beyond the earlier simplistic descriptions of Wikipedia's governance -- to advance the study of online governance, and of organizations more generally. As the evidence will show, while Wikipedia's governance shows elements common to many traditional governance models, it appears to be closest to the organizational structure known as adhocracy.

International audience In recent years, a new realm has appeared for the study of political and sociological phenomena: the Internet. This paper will analyze the decision-making processes of one of the largest online communities, Wikipedia. Founded in 2001, Wikipedia – now among the top 10 most popular sites on the Internet -- has succeeded in attracting and organizing millions of volunteers and creating the world's largest encyclopedia. To date, however, little study has been done of Wikipedia's governance. There is substantial confusion about its decision-making structure. The organization's governance has been compared to many decision-making and political systems -- from democracy to dictatorship, from bureaucracy to anarchy. It is the purpose of this paper to go beyond the earlier simplistic descriptions of Wikipedia's governance -- to advance the study of online governance, and of organizations more generally. As the evidence will show, while Wikipedia's governance shows elements common to many traditional governance models, it appears to be closest to the organizational structure known as adhocracy.

International audience ; This study examines whether the Iron Law of Oligarchy exists in Wikipedia by analyzing how a key policy of the website regarding verifiability evolved into its current form. The study describes the decision making processes of Wikipedia and shows that there are many factors preventing or slowing the development of oligarchy on Wikipedia. The study provides data advancing theoretical concepts related to the Iron Law of Oligarchy and the evolution of virtual communities and organizations; results and knowledge gained can also improve Wikipedia policies related to verifiability.

International audience ; In recent years a new realm for study of political and sociological phenomena has appeared, the Internet, contributing to major changes in our societies during its relatively brief existence. Within cyberspace, organizations whose existence is increasingly tied to this virtual world are of interest to social scientists. This study will analyze the community of one of the largest online organizations, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia with millions of volunteer members. Wikipedia was never meant to be a community, yet it most certainly has become one. This study asks whether it is something even more –whether it is an expression of online activism, and whether it can be seen as a social movement organization, related to one or more of the Internet-centered social movements industries (in particular, the free and open-source software movement industry).