Title |
Collective Phenomena and Non-Finite State Computation in a Human Social System
|
---|---|
Published in |
PLOS ONE, October 2013
|
DOI | 10.1371/journal.pone.0075818 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Simon DeDeo |
Abstract |
We investigate the computational structure of a paradigmatic example of distributed social interaction: that of the open-source Wikipedia community. We examine the statistical properties of its cooperative behavior, and perform model selection to determine whether this aspect of the system can be described by a finite-state process, or whether reference to an effectively unbounded resource allows for a more parsimonious description. We find strong evidence, in a majority of the most-edited pages, in favor of a collective-state model, where the probability of a "revert" action declines as the square root of the number of non-revert actions seen since the last revert. We provide evidence that the emergence of this social counter is driven by collective interaction effects, rather than properties of individual users. |
X Demographics
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 10 | 28% |
Brazil | 4 | 11% |
Canada | 3 | 8% |
Mexico | 3 | 8% |
Netherlands | 1 | 3% |
Luxembourg | 1 | 3% |
United Kingdom | 1 | 3% |
Spain | 1 | 3% |
Austria | 1 | 3% |
Other | 1 | 3% |
Unknown | 10 | 28% |
Demographic breakdown
Type | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Members of the public | 24 | 67% |
Scientists | 10 | 28% |
Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 2 | 6% |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United States | 4 | 11% |
Portugal | 2 | 6% |
France | 1 | 3% |
China | 1 | 3% |
Sri Lanka | 1 | 3% |
Spain | 1 | 3% |
Luxembourg | 1 | 3% |
Unknown | 25 | 69% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 11 | 31% |
Researcher | 8 | 22% |
Student > Master | 6 | 17% |
Professor | 4 | 11% |
Student > Doctoral Student | 2 | 6% |
Other | 3 | 8% |
Unknown | 2 | 6% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Computer Science | 9 | 25% |
Physics and Astronomy | 5 | 14% |
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 3 | 8% |
Social Sciences | 3 | 8% |
Psychology | 3 | 8% |
Other | 10 | 28% |
Unknown | 3 | 8% |