An online social convention currently in place is the act of referring to Wikipedia for information and editing topics for correctness and completeness. Online users refer to this site to gain general insight and factual information about an array of topics.
Wallace states that society conforms to conventions and adhere to laws that restrict freedoms but help preserve an orderly existence that is both “predictable and safe”. A name given to this controlling force is a Leviathan. The Leviathan can be a system that creates “our peace and defense” and ensures society, online or other, abides by convention and norm. A major aspect defining the Leviathan is that the people over which the Leviathan exists must also desire a certain order and is willing to sacrifice freedoms to attain this order.
Some key aspects of a Leviathan include the following:
Convention: a convention is an agreed upon standard in terms of actions, etiquette, criteria or rules. The Leviathan maintains social conventions and ensures they are upheld. The convention in regards to Wikipedia would be referring to Wikipedia as a general source of information. It is generally agreed upon that Wikipedia is correct to a point. Those who wish to contribute to Wikipedia should do their best to maintain reliability and accuracy.
Conforming: when people realize, learn, and perform established conventions in the environment. Those who seek to act outside social convention and do not conform are dealt with by the Leviathan. In an online setting such as Wikipedia, more and more people begin to reference Wikipedia as search engines start to return “wiki” topics and others begin to rely on Wikipedia. Accessing Wikipedia site, new users quickly catch on to the language of the information on the site as well as to other users who reference Wikipedia. People begin to understand the vast amounts of information Wikipedia and even pick up slang such as “just wiki it”.
Leviathan: The Leviathan, as discussed before, ensure social norms and conventions are followed. In regards to the online example Wikipedia, disclaimers of correctness and editing policies and guidelines are put in place, enforced by Administrators and an Arbitration Committee; Trivial mistakes and wrong information is expected to be corrected on the assumption that each user seeks to provide most correct, up to date information available. Thus, the social norm of regarding Wikipedia as correct and updating topics with reliable, helpful topics are upheld. Users of Wikipedia sacrifice the freedom of saying whatever they please or believe is correct. Information provided by one user may be edited and removed by other contributors. But this is accepted by users to keep order and unnecessary disputes.
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2 comments:
Hey Jennifer,
I really enjoyed reading your blog and it was informative (especially to someone who doesn't know the terms). The organization of your blog makes it easy to read, and I like how you define each portion of the assignment and then use your chosen space - Wikipedia - to support your answers.
Wikipedia is definitely very popular(I've used it on numerous occasions, both for research and random information). I agree that most Wiki contributers do their best to make Wikipedia "true" but there are times where you can tell that someone's fooling around. Also, I agree with the Leviathan you chose, as well as the social norms of Wikipedia.
Good job!
I really enjoyed your blog! You did a great job of breaking down what Wallace said. I also liked the way that it was organized, nice job!
Wikipedia is truly an amazing institution. It is so popular now, that many people use it without even realizing that the articles they read could have been submitted by anyone! Many people accept what Wikipedia says as being factually correct. The main reason for this is because of the Leviathan. Standards on Wikipedia are high, and are very strictly enforced. This gives most people some piece of mind that the information they are receiving is actually correct.
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