We present an analysis of the statistical properties and growth of the free on-line encyclopedia Wikipedia. By describing topics by vertices and hyperlinks between them as edges, we can represent this encyclopedia as a directed graph. The topological properties of this graph are in close analogy with that of the World Wide Web, despite the very different growth mechanism. In particular we measure a scale--invariant distribution of the in-- and out-- degree and we are able to reproduce these features by means of a simple statistical model. As a major consequence, Wikipedia growth can be described by local rules such as the preferential attachment mechanism, though users can act globally on the network.
%0 Journal Article
%1 Capocci:2006p4728
%A Capocci, A
%A Servedio, V
%A Colaiori, F
%A Buriol, L
%D 2006
%J Arxiv preprint physics
%K 2006 Wikipedia growth read social-network-analysis statistic
%T Preferential attachment in the growth of social networks: the case of Wikipedia
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0602026v1
%X We present an analysis of the statistical properties and growth of the free on-line encyclopedia Wikipedia. By describing topics by vertices and hyperlinks between them as edges, we can represent this encyclopedia as a directed graph. The topological properties of this graph are in close analogy with that of the World Wide Web, despite the very different growth mechanism. In particular we measure a scale--invariant distribution of the in-- and out-- degree and we are able to reproduce these features by means of a simple statistical model. As a major consequence, Wikipedia growth can be described by local rules such as the preferential attachment mechanism, though users can act globally on the network.
@article{Capocci:2006p4728,
abstract = {We present an analysis of the statistical properties and growth of the free on-line encyclopedia Wikipedia. By describing topics by vertices and hyperlinks between them as edges, we can represent this encyclopedia as a directed graph. The topological properties of this graph are in close analogy with that of the World Wide Web, despite the very different growth mechanism. In particular we measure a scale--invariant distribution of the in-- and out-- degree and we are able to reproduce these features by means of a simple statistical model. As a major consequence, Wikipedia growth can be described by local rules such as the preferential attachment mechanism, though users can act globally on the network.},
added-at = {2009-03-20T19:36:18.000+0100},
author = {Capocci, A and Servedio, V and Colaiori, F and Buriol, L},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2da10fd5c9c4d6b86eb32cdf8c4a7693d/anneba},
date-added = {2008-02-15 18:41:56 +0100},
date-modified = {2008-02-15 18:41:57 +0100},
description = {March 2008},
interhash = {888e275aaee9465b5b779cb95e56de07},
intrahash = {da10fd5c9c4d6b86eb32cdf8c4a7693d},
journal = {Arxiv preprint physics},
keywords = {2006 Wikipedia growth read social-network-analysis statistic},
month = Jan,
pmid = {3170164087417223665related:8Tk09nCv_isJ},
rating = {0},
timestamp = {2009-08-24T16:54:04.000+0200},
title = {Preferential attachment in the growth of social networks: the case of Wikipedia},
uri = {papers://C3B117CD-23C4-4854-9426-AC96AFB113DA/Paper/p4728},
url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0602026v1},
year = 2006
}