Paper long abstract:

Wikipedia, the free and open online encyclopedia, can serve as a case study of the challenges posed by the goals of 'inclusive innovation'. It is one major example for the realization of the expectations on new communication technologies and their democratizing potentials since it seeks to dismantle barriers in the production and reception of knowledge by implementing new socio-technical features. It is also one major example for the efforts of a vast group of distributed editors trying to secure the ideal of openness, which is the project's specific 'semantic formula' for describing its inclusionist agenda.

In my talk I will draw on findings of an ethnographic case study of German Wikipedia to present two aspects relevant to a critical discussion of inclusive innovation. First, I will present typical elements of Wikipedia's discourse of inclusion, with special focus on the role which is attributed to the technology. Second, with reference to Wikipedia's current problem of slowing growth in active editors I will outline typical challenges posed to the practical implementation of the inclusive goals of knowledge-creation communities. As Wikipedia is faced by increasing processes of closure, it is, again, urged to develop new strategies in order to contest those growing exclusionary tendencies within. The talk will conclude with an attempt to assess the effectiveness of technological features, diverse actors as well as communicative and normative resources which are mobilized to solve this very recent problem.