This book starts with a potted history of Wikipedia, beginning at it’s predecessor Nupedia, and then follows the development of the site until sometime in mid-2008, when the book was published. As an effort to keep up with both change and the technology, a wiki was set up to act as an afterword. Weirdly, although it’s mentioned in the text of the book, the only place I could find a link to it was the Wikipedia page for the book – not the books flashy website.

The book itself isn’t shy of the typical criticisms of Wikipedia, which are over-reliance on volunteers and exclusion of expert voices, but also adds a new practical consideration by noting that costs might exceed the budget set out. This is something that has obviously turned up in the research of the book, as it is an ongoing concern for the Wikipedia foundation (and at the time of writing in 2010, wikipedia is plastered with “personal appeal” banners from Jimmy Wales).

Obviously a work of considerable sophistication, the book will stand as that rare type of useful academic research that can be read by interested laymen. It does seem that researching the earlier days and structure of wikipedia was easier than discussing the later, more recent days, but considering the charges of revisionism laid at Jimmy Wales’ self-aggrandising claims, this is research that might actually become more useful as time goes on.

Tricker details – as referred to by the case of RickK, the admin who left owing to difference with others of the elite wikipedia admin corps, despite the goodwill he had generated in the community, are briefly touched on in the end. The book was published too early to touch the controversy of when it was found that the short-stock articles explaining several financial practices central to the recent economic meltdown were written by a journalist directly employed by Wall Street investment banks (although it’s hard to fault a book on things that happened after it was published).

Personally, I found the book interesting, if a little too willing to explain some of the easier-to-grasp ideas behind wiki’s. Some of the technological advances that wikipedia had been responsible for were news to me, but the more interesting stories of clashes within the new online/wikipedia culture seemed rushed the further the book went. I’d say that while this book isn’t the definitive history of wikipedia, it’s certainly a start on documenting the massive effect the wikipedia foundation is having upon contemporary culture.