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A Simple Model of Knowledge Scaffolding Applied to Wikipedia Growth

Author

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  • Franco Bagnoli

    (Department of Physics and Astronomy and CSDC, University of Florence, Via G. Sansone 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
    INFN, sez. Firenze, Via G. Sansone 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

  • Guido de Bonfioli Cavalcabo’

    (Department of Physics and Astronomy and CSDC, University of Florence, Via G. Sansone 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
    These authors contributed equally to this work.)

Abstract

We illustrate a simple model of knowledge scaffolding, based on the process of building a corpus of knowledge, each item of which is linked to “previous” ones. The basic idea is that the relationships among the items of corpus can be essentially drawn as an acyclic network, in which topmost contributions are “derived” from items at lower levels. When a new item is added to the corpus, we impose a limit to the maximum unit increase (i.e., “jumps”) of knowledge. We analyzed the time growth of the corpus (number of items) and the maximum knowledge, both showing a power law. Another result was that the number of “holes” in the knowledge corpus always remains limited. Our model can be used as a rough approximation to the asymptotic growth of Wikipedia, and indeed, actual data show a certain resemblance with our model. Assuming that the user base is growing, at beginning, in an exponential way, one can also recover the early phases of Wikipedia growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Franco Bagnoli & Guido de Bonfioli Cavalcabo’, 2023. "A Simple Model of Knowledge Scaffolding Applied to Wikipedia Growth," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-14, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jftint:v:15:y:2023:i:2:p:67-:d:1058939
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Erjia Yan, 2014. "Finding knowledge paths among scientific disciplines," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 65(11), pages 2331-2347, November.
    2. Jim Giles, 2005. "Internet encyclopaedias go head to head," Nature, Nature, vol. 438(7070), pages 900-901, December.
    3. Ikujiro Nonaka, 1994. "A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(1), pages 14-37, February.
    4. Nicolas Jullien, 2012. "What We Know About Wikipedia: A Review of the Literature Analyzing the Project(s)," Post-Print hal-00857208, HAL.
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    Cited by:

    1. Massimo Cafaro & Italo Epicoco & Marco Pulimeno, 2024. "State-of-the-Art Future Internet Technology in Italy 2022–2023," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-4, February.

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