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Self-Organization in a Collaborative Knowledge Network: A Case Study of OOPS

OOPS stands for Opensource Opencourseware Prototype System, a project sponsored by Fantasy Foundation. Aiming to benefit Chinese readers, this project recruit volunteer translators all over the world through internet to translate Opencourseware materials from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) into Chinese.
This research was a qualitative case study conducted between 2004/2 ~ 2007/1. Multiple data sources were surveyed, including OOPS¡¦ online discussion forum, and archival information from OOPS website. Online archival data ranged from media reports, activity reports, e-newsletters, volunteer reports, survey summaries, and sub-group websites. Interviews with group leaders were also conducted. Evidence collected through these means were used to describe how OOPS employed the Internet to coordinate translation efforts and promote Opencourseware. In addition, this research applied Science of Complexity to explain the self organizing phenomenon within the network arisen from its participants. This research looked further into how Science of Complexity can clarify the organic process of a self organizing network going from simple to complex.
This research found 1) the degree of openness in a collaborative knowledge network influenced its degree of self organization; 2) volunteer¡¦s willingness to participate was related to environment¡¦s fitness; 3) critical mass, diversity, variety, interaction and feedback promoted evolution; 4) a collaborative knowledge network¡¦s key to an organic expansion depended on participants¡¦ outgrowth and self organization; and 5) effective facilitation at the edge of chaos would foster new organization growth.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0213107-144757
Date13 February 2007
CreatorsChang, Lee-Lee
ContributorsPierre Chen, Lin Hsin-Hui, Tang Wen-hui, Lin Fen-Hui
PublisherNSYSU
Source SetsNSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive
LanguageCholon
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0213107-144757
Rightsnot_available, Copyright information available at source archive

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