Is Attention Scarce On Wiki

From TragedyOfTheCommons:

DavidChess: It would in fact be hard to have a true TragedyOfTheCommons on Wiki, since there aren't really scarce resources... In Wiki, perhaps it's that everyone has a short-term incentive to post One More Yabbit, which eventually leads to so much chatter that no-one bothers reading?

PeterMerel: If Wiki were a collection of isolated pages, I think I'd agree with you. But Wiki isn't like that. WikiPages interdepend and interrelate in a way that focuses the attention of the participant, and it's that attention that is the limited resource here. When AllRoadsLeadToRome, as they do with ExtremeProgramming on the Wiki, then participants are naturally drawn away from other content and on to XP discussions.

Is attention really scarce on Wiki? If so, whose? Wouldn't the increasing number of contributors work against any such scarcity? Or does there need to be something special about the contributors (e.g. the ability to have an overview of a large chunk of Wiki)?

I remember reading a couple of years ago about how attention is the new scarce resource on the Web; this would obviously tie in with that observation. But how good is it?

Attention isn't some physical quantity, like barrels of oil or tons of timber or even days of time. Is attention even a well-defined concept? The only other page on Wiki that contains "attention" in the title is the one on AttentionDeficitDisorder.

On the other hand, I can see myself turning into a RecentChangesJunkie, and getting caught up in ThreadMode discussions, not all of them worthwhile. Would I be doing Wiki and myself a favor if I spent my attention more deliberately, instead of basically channel-surfing RecentChanges?

Most readers come here to read about ExtremeProgramming first, then patterns and finally general software design. These topics get attention but must compete with deep content already present on the site. There are far more general readers than junkies, but, since junkies descend on a few pages, these pages are often on the top ten. -- WardCunningham

My first instinct was to say that the reason there's a problem of attention scarcity on the Web is because most of it is now worthless junk that doesn't deserve anyone's attention. But that's the point; there's so much junk that you can't find the gems. Another difference between the Web and Wiki is that you can do something about the junk you see on Wiki. So the question is; how easy is it to find junk outside of RecentChanges? And how easy is it for someone to find what they are interested in and avoid what they have no interest in?

I think there is a problem and that categories & roadmaps are the only known solution. But if they're to work, categories should be merged and removed at least as often as they're added since there's already too many. Or maybe categories should be listed by size since alphabetical order is next to useless. The whole point of the categories listing is that you don't know exactly what category to search for so that page is of little value at present. (added it to WikiWikiSuggestions) -- RichardKulisz

Just because the technology enables you to remove valueless content that doesn't mean you are capable of doing so. Social pressures prevent deletion of spam.

Hmm. Spam seems to get whacked pretty durn fast here. The WikiGnomes are quick on the delete trigger. As far as "valueless" content -- it seems that almost every page has its defenders who are willing to fight to the death to protect them, regardless of OffTopicness. This is not an indictment of that page, just a mention of a standout example of Wikizen overprotection. So, some junk does remain despite our best efforts to clean it out. Oh, well.

The real value of spreading Wiki topics around is the serendipitous creation of new topics. As Wiki visitors research the topic that drew them here they end up exploring parallel issues and eventually get drawn completely off track...uh, wait, that wasn't what I wanted to say. The stimulation of parallel thinking creates bonus topics for discussion and eventual dissertation. Wiki is visited by participants with a wealth of attention - just look at all the valuable material that gets added here continually.

See TragedyOfTheCommons