Enabling Networked Knowledge

Digital Enterprise Research Institute

Building a Standpoints Web to Support Decision-Making in Wikipedia

Jodi Schneider

Although the Web enables large-scale collaboration, its potential to support group decision-making has not been fully exploited. My research aims to analyze, extract, and represent disagreement in purposeful social web conversations. This supports decision-making in distributed groups by representing individuals' claims and their justifications in a "Standpoints Web", a hypertext web interlinking the claims and justifications made throughout the social web. The two main contributions of my dissertation are an architecture for the Standpoints Web and a case study implementing the Standpoints Web for Wikipedia's deletion discussions.

Wikipedia Deletion Discussion

Summarizing Standpoints

Using Standpoints

1. Newcomers Learn effective argument & rhetoric

2. AdministratorsDetermine outcomes

3. Readers Revisiting DiscussionsUnderstand the deciding factors

[Delete the article]...hasn't played since 2008. His 66-73 record is far from stellar and, in my opinion, does not merit an article.

>>He pitched last month and plays for the Venezuelan League. This meets our article criteria.

Argument Exploration

Abstract

Support 3 groups:

Argument exploration is joint work with the University of Liverpool, Adam Wyner, Katie Atkinson & Trevor Bench-Capon.Thanks to a COST Short-term scientific mission (STSM 1868) from the COST Action ICO801 on Agreement Technologies!

Main Ph.D. funding: Science Foundation Ireland Grant No. SFI/08/CE/I1380 (Líon-2)

Totten image credit: http://cuentacompleta.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/5229630.jpg